Game of Life and Devils
by general zargon
Summary: When Ichigo Kurosaki started to see names and levels floating over people's heads the day he moved to a new city, the only thing he could say was that it honestly wasn't the strangest thing that had ever happened to him. Rated for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is inspired by, and makes use of some of the mechanics in, The Gamer by Sun San-young and Sang-ah. Also inspired by The Game of Life by exocara, a fantastic writer._

 _Disclaimer: I own neither Bleach nor Highschool DxD or The Gamer. I'm just playing around with them._

 **This is an experimental pilot chapter.**

* * *

 _'Alright, think about it this way, this is hardly the weirdest thing that's happened to me,'_ Kurosaki Ichigo thought with a resigned sigh.

He kept his gaze resolutely straight ahead, resisting the temptation to turn his head and look at the glowing strings of letters hovering above the heads of the people he passed. He had no clue why he was suddenly seeing names and stuff above people's heads, but it was pretty damned distracting.

He had spent at least ten minutes staring at the brightly glowing blue words above his own head. And he felt rather annoyed by the level.

[Kurosaki Ichigo, Level 20]

Seriously, after everything he had been through, he was only level twenty? Sure he'd lost his Soul Reaper powers after he'd killed Aizen, but still. What a rip off. Though he supposed he should be grateful that he wasn't as low as most of the people he passed were. The highest level he'd seen so far was a fifteen, and that was from a guy dressed in a gi, a traditional karate outfit.

Ichigo sighed again, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and checking the address written on it once again. He had already gotten lost once trying to find the apartment block that would be his home for the near future, and he was determined to make that one time the _only_ time, glowing words and numbers be damned. The city that housed his new school was surprisingly easy to get lost in, and the one time he had tried to ask someone for directions the guy had run away.

Oh, and his _Intimidation_ skill had gained a level, according to the blue window that had popped up in front of him.

And that was another thing, apparently he was the only one who could see the names and levels, not to mention the screen that randomly popped up in front of him! He had taken the train that morning to get to the city expecting someone to scream the first time the glowing screen appeared in front of him, but instead it appeared that he was the only one that could see it, and thankfully it didn't appear to be solid unless he pressed something on it.

Sure it was weird and would have made him doubt his sanity had he been anyone else, but considering that he had seen ghosts and spirits since he was a kid, until just recently been a Soul Reaper aka a Death God for almost two years, and defeated a megalomaniac bent on remaking the world in his own image, this newest thing really wasn't that strange. It was annoying, but not dangerous as far as he could see, so he was content to just do his best to ignore it.

...Yeah, so that wasn't working too well, but he wasn't ready to stop trying.

Ichigo paused at an intersection and waited for the light to change, crossing the street with the rest of the crowd after a few minutes. He was pretty sure that his apartment block was near a park, and he could see what looked like the entrance to one just a couple of streets down. He would check the park name and maybe take a break from all the walking he'd been doing ( _Endurance_ be damned), then try and get his bearings once again. He was pretty sure that if he was lost much longer his sense of direction would turn out to be as bad as Kenpachi's, and he definitely didn't want that to happen.

He collapsed onto the first park bench he came across with a quiet sigh of relief, stretching out his aching legs and groaning when his muscles flexed and protested the exertion he'd put them through that day.

Ichigo let his arms rest across the top of the bench, crossing his feet at the ankle and letting his head fall back, staring meditatively up at the clear blue sky above. It didn't look any different than the sky above Karakura Town, but then why would it? He thought with a sigh.

He had thought over his decision to leave Karakura Town and go to school somewhere else, for all that it must have seemed sudden to his dad and sisters.

It was just that he hadn't been able to stand the pitying looks Orihime, Chad, Uryu, and recently Tatsuki had sent his way when his back had been turned, thinking he wouldn't notice, or the way they had begun distancing themselves from him. And when they suddenly rushed out of class with paper-thin excuses...it hurt, knowing they were going after Hollows and that he wasn't able to do anything to help them.

But what really felt like a sword piercing his heart (and he knew from experience what that felt like...) was when they turned down his offers to hang out as friends and when he saw the fake smiles that they put on whenever they were around him.

Just because he'd lost his powers didn't mean they couldn't be friends, right? He hadn't thought so, but apparently his former friends had. That was what hurt most of all, he thought, and made his decision to leave and start a new life in a different town that much easier. He'd mulled over his options for almost a week before finalizing his choice in time for summer break, thus giving him time to find a place to live in the new city and get used to the place before school started.

He had felt bad about leaving his sisters, but for all he would miss them and they would miss him, they had supported his choice when he'd broken the news to them over dinner (and his dad's wailing to that stupid poster). They had made him promise to send them regular messages and call at least once every couple of days, but that was something he would have done on his own anyway. He would even faintly miss Goat Face, but he'd be damned before he'd ever admit that outside the confines of his own head.

He hadn't even bothered telling his former friends that he'd left, instead leaving it up to Karin and Yuzu to tell them if any of them happened to notice his absence. A clean break was best, he'd figured, so he'd packed up his stuff, talked to Kon (he'd pretended not to notice the stuffed lion's sniffles when he'd said goodbye, or the way his own eyes had felt a little misty), and told his family that he'd let them know when he'd found an apartment so they could send his stuff along.

So now here he was, starting over in a new city and completely lost on his first day there, lounging on a park bench with a backpack full of necessities at his feet as he took a break.

Thankfully the whole names-and-levels thing had only started after he'd left Karakura, he thought with an amused snort, closing his eyes momentarily before opening them again. Taking one last look at the sky, he straightened from his lounging position, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out the directions to his new apartment (he'd have to look into getting a part-time job, since he only had enough saved up for a couple of months' rent at the moment). He might as well have another look at them, see if taking a break had helped clear his head.

When he looked at the address written on the - now rather wrinkled - paper he saw that no, the rest hadn't really helped except making him feel a bit better.

Ichigo sighed, resigned to simply trying to ask people for directions until he found someone who would hopefully answer him before running away. He wondered if it was possible to turn off that intimidation skill that he apparently had...Shrugging, he folded the paper again, stood up and stretched his arms over his head, gradually bringing them back down to his sides after a moment. He bent down to pick up his bag, slinging it over a shoulder and setting off towards the park entrance he'd come through.

It took him almost an entire hour before he found someone to give him directions, and he strongly suspected he only got those directions because he'd exerted a monumental amount of willpower and turned his customary scowl into a sort-of smile.

He was quickly informed by the kind soul he asked, an old lady about to enter a grocery store, that he had been going in circles and was then told the correct way to go. He had thanked the old lady politely but profusely and set off, resolutely ignoring the blue screen that popped up.

[Passive Skill: _Charm_ has been created!]

...He didn't want to know, he really didn't.

Ichigo carefully followed the new directions, and once he got a glimpse of a street sign that matched one that he'd written down he knew he was on the right track. Now that he was on the right path, it took an embarrassingly short amount of time before he had arrived at his apartment block, a plain building that looked like a carbon-copy of several others that he'd seen around town.

Checking in with the manager and getting his key barely took five minutes, and then he was standing in the barren living room of his new place. It was clean and actually looked pretty spacious, so Ichigo gave it a five out of five - after all, it wasn't like he was going to have someone living in his closet again, right?...on second thought, maybe he shouldn't jinx himself, he thought as he quickly rapped his knuckles on his bedroom's wooden door frame, just in case.

He had a cell-phone, courtesy of his dad, so he sent a quick text to Karin to let her know his new address so they could send his stuff. That done, he was officially on his own, and he had no clue what to do next.

The apartment itself was pretty generic, having a grand total of five rooms: the living room, kitchen, his bedroom, a guestroom, and a bathroom. There was no decoration, and the walls were all painted in a neutral cream color. The floors were mostly wooden, the only carpeting being in the guestroom that actually came equipped with its own futon (his own bedroom had a futon too, so that was another plus).

Everything looked okay, he decided after a thorough walkthrough, and sighed in relief that he wouldn't have to blow any money on tools to fix a leaky faucet or something like that.

Thirty minutes later found him finishing up putting away the few toiletries and other necessities he had brought along with him. He left the bathroom, being sure to turn off the light behind him, and made his way back to the living room where he tossed his backpack (it really only had a few changes of clothes in it now, so no worries about him breaking anything in it) into one of the corners.

Okay, he was now as settled in as he could be...now what did he do?

Answer: go exploring and hope he didn't get lost again.

Putting his shoes back on was the work a moment (he still had his jacket on, so his wallet and new apartment key were safe in one of the interior pockets), and then he was out the door. He made sure to lock it behind him, because for all that there wasn't really anything worth stealing in there, there wasn't any use in tempting fate.

Now, his first priority, find out where the nearest grocery store was.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Happy belated 4th of July! It's a day late, but I'm hoping this still counts. :) Be sure to leave a review on the way out and let me know what you think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Here's the second chapter. Thank you all so much for the great reviews! For the disclaimer, see the first chapter._

* * *

Ichigo was walking out of the grocery store down the street from his apartment the first time he accessed the game menu. He had been minding his own business and making a note about where the place was on his newly-formed mental map of the city so he wouldn't get lost again when the world around him suddenly dimmed and everything crawled to a stop. A blue window appeared in front of him, and Ichigo discovered that he could no longer move his feet. Which, if you happened to be standing on the sidewalk waiting for the light to change like he was, was actually rather alarming.

He silently vowed never to admit to anyone about the minor breakdown he had had at that moment.

Once he'd calmed down, he took some deep, cleansing breaths, slowly let them out in long sighs, and decided to just go with the flow. It had worked for him so far, he reasoned, and so he actually took the time to read what was written on the larger-than-normal blue screen.

Status, skills, party, items, and quest log. Those were the options he had to choose from.

Ichigo spent about a minute staring at the words, debating with himself over whether or not he should try selecting any of them. He was honestly tempted, his curiosity nagging at him, but eventually he just frowned and closed the menu.

The world regained color and started moving again, and he was free to continue exploring the area around his apartment. Come to think of it, he should probably find out where the school was and plot to quickest route between it and his apartment. He nodded to himself, and then set off, adding things to his mental map as he went along so he could retrace his steps if he somehow got off course.

He didn't forget about the game menu though, and in fact made a mental note to look at it more closely when he returned to his new home for the night.

Unfortunately, the best laid plans often went awry, and it was just as Ichigo was wandering through the streets around his soon-to-be school that his started unraveling.

He hadn't had any trouble finding the school (he couldn't remember its name at the moment), and he was in the midst of wondering if he should climb one of the tall trees around the property for a better view of the connecting streets when a shiver went down his spine. It actually felt somewhat familiar, and he had to dig through his memories before he managed to place it: it felt like the first time he had ever felt a Hollow's presence, a mixture of darkness and heaviness with a splash of rage.

That got him wondering though, what could possibly be dangerous in a deserted backstreet near a closed-for-the-summer school?

Ichigo looked around suspiciously, sharp eyes narrowed as he surveyed what parts of the campus he could see from his position near the school gate. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him, and suddenly everything seemed a lot darker, and not in the way it had when he'd accessed the game menu. He literally felt like a pair of eyes were trying to burn a hole through his back even though he was the only one standing on that whole street, and a kind of dark pressure seemed to settle over his shoulders.

Compared to what he'd felt from even the weakest of the Hollows he'd fought, the pressure barely even felt like a tickle and the feeling of malevolent eyes on his back was just annoying. It wasn't worth it to try and investigate, because for all that it was uncomfortable he didn't feel any killing intent from the energy. It was more like a warning, and with a shrug of his shoulders he turned and started walking back to his apartment, thinking that that was enough exploring for one day.

...He was pretty sure that that weird energy was why the street had been deserted, come to think of it.

[Passive Skill: _Resist Compulsion_ has been created!]

Nope, he wasn't going to do it. He was just going to go back home, not open that weird game menu in the middle of a street with people on it (apparently the range of the energy was restricted to the school and the street outside it) just to see what kind of skills he had. There would be plenty of time to do that after he got back to the apartment and ordered some takeout.

All the walking he'd done that day had certainly helped him work up an appetite.

Unfortunately, as it turned out Ichigo didn't get a chance to look at the game menu again, because as soon as he walked through the door of his apartment he was promptly attacked.

Years of dealing with his dad's sudden and unprovoked attacks served him well, and he instinctively lashes out with one leg at the lunging blur.

His kick connects, and his attacker is sent flying across the room to hit the wall with a solid thud, falling to the floor with a muffled thump.

Ichigo barely manages to get inside the apartment and shut the door (he doesn't want the neighbor to complain about noise the first day he was there) before the whatever-it-was is back on its' feet and attacking again. What follows is basically him dodging around a lunging blur and occasionally retaliating with kicks or the rare punch when the blur lunged at his head.

The fight, if it could be called that, barely lasted five minutes before Ichigo landed one more kick to the blur's side and sent it crashing against the wall again where it finally lay still. That was when he got his first good look at his 'assailant', and what he saw left him blinking in disbelief.

He had no fucking clue what the thing was.

It looked like a giant lizard at first glance, with some elements of a cat thrown in, and it was a bit bigger than one of those komodo dragons he'd seen on T.V one time. Its' body type resembled some kind of shortened Eastern dragon, long and sinuous, but the agile way it moved and landed on its' feet was all cat. The scales that covered the majority of its' body alternated between black and bright orange, giving the impression of flames swirling in pure darkness, and the line of thin spines that went from the back of its' head to between its' shoulders and ringed around all four ankles were a dark reddish-gold color.

The thing also had two large horns thrusting back from its' skull a grand total of six inches, both the same color as its' spines, and its' claws were all a dark blood red.

And another thing that told him that this was no regular giant lizard was the fact that Ichigo had never heard of a lizard that had six eyes, three on either side of its' head, instead of the usual two.

All of the lizard-thing's eyes were a solid, burning red color, no whites, pupils, or irises visible, and they seemed to be glowing with a hellish light. Just staring at them sent shivers down his spine and caused an unpleasant prickling sensation to run across his skin.

It was freaking him out, not just the creature itself but the whole situation - he had no clue how the thing had managed to get into his apartment in the first place (he knew for sure that he hadn't left the windows open).

[Passive Skill: _Resist Paralysis_ has been created!]

He was startled out of staring at the lizard-thing's eyes by the glowing blue screen, and he frowned when he read the new skill he had apparently gained. Seriously, where was the blue window when he had been dodging and fighting the lizard-thing?

These new game mechanics that had apparently become his life were giving him a headache...

[Passive Skill: _Resist Paralysis_ has gained a level!]

And ignoring that for now, Ichigo looked back at the lizard-thing only to have to step to the aside to avoid its lunging attack. That was the start of round two of Ichigo vs. the lizard-thing, and it was during the second half the fight that he discovered something:

It was a pain in the ass to fight when those windows kept popping up and distracting him.

He didn't even pay attention to what they were saying, he just tried to ignore them and focus on not getting bit and/or clawed by what now seemed to be a pretty pissed off lizard creature. He also had to try to keep the noise level down, which was hard to do considering the lizard creature was letting out a kind of hissing-growl that made another shiver run through his body as he jumped up to avoid the lizard's third attempt to maul his legs.

Twenty minutes later Ichigo growled and said, "Enough is enough already!" as he dodged another lunge and got around to lizard's side and then kicked out. His foot connected solidly, and the creature was once more sent flying into the wall. This time though the thing just laid where it fell, and while Ichigo felt bad about using so much strength he was glad that at least now he could take a freaking break.

He spared a moment to look around, and then he was simply thankful that he didn't have any furniture and that the only casualties of the fight was some scratches on the walls and a hole in his pants from when he hadn't dodged quickly enough.

Damn it, he'd liked those jeans too.

Oh, and then there was the knocked-out lizard-thing. Couldn't forget about that.

Ichigo sighed and went to get another pair of pants from his bag.

By the time he made it back to the living room (he said a mental prayer of thanks that the fight had been confined to just the one room) wearing a new pair of jeans, the lizard-thing had disappeared.

He checked to be sure, but yup, the windows were still closed as well.

Ichigo didn't even bother trying to figure out how the creature had gotten out of the apartment; he simply went around the room and assessed the damage with a practiced eye. Considering how much damage he had inflicted on buildings on a regular basis, he had a lot of experience telling if something was fixable or not.

Thankfully the walls were fixable - they just needed a bit of plaster and paint, and he sighed and resigned himself to eating frozen dinners and instant ramen. He only had so much money, and he promptly decided to make finding that part-time job a priority, screw figuring out the game menu and the weird skills he seemed to have gained.

...Okay, maybe he could spare a couple of minutes to play around with the game menu.

What? He was curious!

After using his cell phone to call in an order for take-out from a nearby restaurant, he spent ten of the thirty minute wait for his food wondering if he really, absolutely _had_ to fix the walls right away...they were just scratches after all, and it wasn't like there would be an apartment inspection. As long as he kept up with the rent there shouldn't be any problems, and he was willing to put off the wall repairs until he got a job. Since the lizard-thing had been focused on attacking him, the damage to the walls were minimal and mostly from the times he had kicked the creature into them.

Also, now that he thought about it, hadn't the strange animal had bright red letters over its' head? Ichigo remembered that he hadn't been able to read them because the lizard creature had been moving too fast at first, then he'd been too preoccupied by fighting it to pay much attention to what was above its' head.

Hearing a knock on the door, Ichigo stood up and went to get his food and pay for it.

Oh well, he thought as he shut the door and went to the kitchen to eat, it wasn't like he was going to see the lizard-thing again anyway, which was definitely a relief.

Ichigo really should have remembered that fate loved messing with him.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Not much happening in this chapter, but he had to figure out the game menu somehow, right? :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review. As always, constructive criticism is welcome._


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Here's chapter 3! Hope you enjoy it, as things start picking up in this chapter! ;)_

* * *

Ichigo found out how wrong he was about seeing the lizard creature again two days later after he returned home from exploring the city (and looking for any stores that had help wanted signs in the windows).

The minute he walked in the door he had to dive to the side to evade the orange-and-black blur that dove at him.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed, sidestepping again and again to avoid the furious lizard's attacks, occasionally lashing out with a punch or a kick of his own when the thing got too close.

Ten minutes later saw more scratches added to the walls.

"How did this thing even get in here?" Ichigo wondered, scratching his head in confusion as he looked from the closed windows to the door that had fallen shut after he'd dodged the lizard's first attack. He glanced at the unconscious reptile slumped against one of the walls and sighed before going to locate a broom and a dustpan. He also made a mental note to buy cleaning supplies - if he was sweeping up he might as well have the stuff to clean the rest of the house too.

As he had expected, when he came back a minute later the creature was gone.

He blinked and then groaned when he realized that he _still_ didn't know what the letters over the lizard's head said!

The next day was almost an exact repeat of the previous one, with the exception that he'd actually found a store willing to hire him to stock shelves part-time starting tomorrow.

He'd wandered around town after that, occasionally drifting close enough to the school for him to feel that warningly dark aura, though he stuck around longer and longer each time, just out of morbid curiosity. His Resist Compulsion skill had since gone up to level six, so hey, that was something.

Of course, the main issue was that when he got home he got attacked by the lizard-thing. Again.

Seriously, what was going on here? How did that thing even keep getting into the apartment?

Once it was unconscious again and he went to get the broom and dustpan out of the closet, he paused when he caught sight of his reflection in one of the windows. One eyebrow raised when he saw his level was now twenty-four instead of just twenty before shrugging and going back into the living room.

The lizard had once again disappeared. He kind of wanted to know how it managed to do that...

Before he went to bed that night, he finally gave in and resignedly activated the game menu. He didn't even pay attention to the party and items options, instead biting the bullet and going to the Skills section.

He had a surprising number of them, though most he just glanced at before looking at the ones that confused him, which there were only four of, thankfully. The rest were pretty self-explanatory.

[ _Resist Compulsion_ , passive ability, Level 6]

For lack of any better ideas, he clicked on it to try and find out more.

[ _Resist Compulsion_ gives one the ability to resist spells, powers, and barriers that try to compel one to do something, such as go a specific direction or perform a certain action.]

Huh, that could be handy, he supposed. Moving on to the next skill.

[ _Charm_ , passive ability, Level 3]

Ichigo didn't even blink before clicking on it.

[ _Charm_ makes people feel at ease and makes them more likely to trust and/or help one out. _Charm_ can be leveled up by being polite and smiling!]

...Yeah, down to the next one.

[ _Devour_ , innate ability, Level 8]

Unfortunately when he tried to click on that one, nothing happened, so he was just left completely confused.

[ _Devil Form_ , active ability, Level 1]

Wait, what?

Ichigo's exploration into his skills honestly left him more confused than he had been when he had started looking at them, and he'd only really paid attention to four of them! He wasn't sure he wanted to know how he'd feel if he tried to find out more details about the rest of them (although that _Alertness_ one he'd glimpsed seemed like it might be helpful).

When he got up the next day, dressed, and set out in order to find a place to do his laundry he only got even more confused when he happened to pay attention to the glowing letters above peoples' heads. Usually they were a kind of grayish-white color, with his blue letters being the only exception, but now that he wandered around some and looked more closely he started spying people with different colored letters.

Some were bright red, others were a kind of rust-gold color, and there were the rare bright gold ones. He had no idea what that meant, but oh look, his Alertness gained a level!

A surprisingly short hour into his walk, he found a laundry-mat pretty close to his apartment and promptly turned to head back and collect his clothes. They were starting to stink, and he only had three more hours before his shift at the store (that sold a bunch of stuff instead of just one type of it) started. He couldn't be late on his first day, not if he wanted to earn some money to add to his savings.

Apparently no one had told his increasingly-regular lizard attacker that because when he opened his apartment door, instinctively punching out with his free hand, he sent the attacking creature tumbling back into the wall. Again.

He was rather impressed by how sturdy they were. And then he had to dodge when the lizard recovered and attacked again.

Seriously, what was with this thing?

[ _Resist Paralysis_ has gained a level! _Resist Paralysis_ is now Level 20. Passive ability _Resist Petrification_ has been created!]

...He didn't want to know. He really didn't.

And then the lizard-thing managed to knick his hand with one of its' fangs in a failed bite and he gained the _Resist Poison_ skill. Neat.

He had been getting better at rendering the lizard-creature unconscious, so it only took him fifteen minutes to knock it out, run and collect his laundry, and then leave the apartment at a brisk jog.

Ichigo really didn't want to be late for his first day of work, and he thankfully wasn't.

The orange-haired teen's first time on the job actually went smoothly - he spent the entire time following around a senior employee, learning the ropes and helping lift things to the appropriate shelves.

It was easy, sometimes boring, and completely normal. He appreciated that fact accordingly.

His first day of work was a success, and his boss promised to figure something out so he could continue to work even when school started.

Yes, it was a good day indeed.

* * *

He was on his way home, cutting through one of the parks that dotted the city, when he abruptly froze in mid-step, his Sense Danger skill (gained when Alertness had reached level 15, apparently) going crazy in the form of no less than ten pop-ups in front of him.

Then he had to jump back to avoid getting skewered by a glowing blue spear and things just went from bad to worse.

He really should have figured out that his day had been going too well.

It only took him a few seconds to locate his attacker, who turned out to be a man wearing a dark trench-coat, gloves, and fedora (really, who wore that in the middle of summer?) standing in the shadow of one of the trees. Dark hair peeked out from beneath the guy's hat, and the guy had on what looked like a white cravat.

Poor fashion choices aside, the man actually seemed normal until Ichigo glanced above the man's head and saw that his letters were a rust-gold color.

[Dohnaseek, Level 25]

Oh, and the guy's shadow had wings.

Ichigo stared.

Even he knew that that wasn't normal. And then he noticed how the park around them was suspiciously deserted, and more than metaphorical alarm bells began ringing in his head as twenty more pop-ups appeared to tell him that his Sense Danger skill was both leveling up and working overtime. He should probably be running, he thought, but before he could follow thought with action he had to spin to the side to avoid another light spear.

"Heh, you're pretty good kid! Shame to kill you, but orders are orders!" Dohnaseek laughed as he manifested another light spear and hurled it at Ichigo.

This one managed to graze his arm, and he was mostly wondering who had ordered fedora-guy (he didn't care that he knew the guy's name - fedora-guy was good enough for the jerk) to kill him when he hadn't even been in town a week!

A different window popped up in front of him, saying something about a resist skill, but by that time he was too busy dodging fedora-guy's veritable deluge of glowing spears. He was pretty sure that they were made of some sort of energy considering how they disappeared after they hit the ground.

What followed was pretty much a deadly game of tag combined with hide-and-seek as Ichigo took cover behind various trees, statues, and miscellaneous objects in an effort to avoid being skewered. He mostly succeeded, though his right arm and leg were throbbing where he'd been grazed.

He was also pissed off, because if he'd still had his powers he would have been able to kick fedora-guy's ass three ways to Sunday. He was just a normal human now, so he was limited to just dodging and trying to escape, which wasn't working so well for him so far. He really, _really_ wanted to punch that guy in the face, if only for the satisfaction it would give him.

It was as he was standing with his back pressed against a tree that a pop-up managed to get his attention.

[Active skill: _Fallen Angel Form_ has been created!]

That was around the time he figured what the hell, he'd give it a try. Wasn't like he had anything to lose, considering how bad his current efforts to get away from fedora-guy were going.

(He had no idea that a regular human would have been dead in the first few minutes in a fight against a Fallen Angel and that Dohnaseek was actually taking him seriously.)

Ichigo took a deep breath, then pushed away from the tree and ran towards an open area just as another light spear pierced through the trunk right where his heart would have been a second earlier.

He turned around to face his opponent, activating his newest skill. There was a bright flash of blue light that momentarily filled his vision, and when it faded he clearly saw the sheer shock on Dohnaseek's face as he felt a rush of power flow through him and a new weight appear on his back.

The fight was over rather quickly after that, ending with fedora-guy slumped unconscious against one of the few intact trees left.

He deactivated the skill, the weight on his back disappearing as there was another quick flash of blue light, and he had to wonder what it actually did considering all he'd done to win the fight was punch fedora-guy in the face...

[ _Fallen Angel Form_ has gained a level!]

Before he left Ichigo stole the guy's hat just to be an asshole.

* * *

 _Author's Note: That seemed like a good place to end it, don't you think? And kudos if you figured out what Ichigo's Gamer powers give him the ability to do before the fight! As always, constructive criticism is welcome, so please review on your way out!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: A word of advice? Never write fanfic while hyped up on sinus medicine...Like, I don't even know what I was thinking...Anyway, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it. :)_

* * *

The rest of the trip home passed without incident and Ichigo was glad for that. He'd had just about all the excitement he could stand for one day.

Of course, just as he thought that he opened his apartment door and got attacked by the lizard creature that seemed to have a personal vendetta against him. He just couldn't seem to catch a freaking break.

The lizard was rendered unconscious in short order and Ichigo was calmly eating some instant ramen (he knew that trip to the grocery store yesterday was a good idea). He didn't even bother watching the lizard to see how it disappeared, he just wanted to finish eating and get some sleep to recover from the day.

Sure it was still pretty early, the sun not yet fully set, but screw it, he was tired.

For lack of anything better he just put the stolen hat on the counter. He was too worn out to bother thinking of where else he could put it.

When he climbed into his futon fifteen minutes later he was out like a light. The lizard, as usual, had already vanished.

Ichigo woke up just before dawn the next day, and he enjoyed the sunrise after he'd yawned and taken care of his business in the bathroom.

Then he walked into the living room and got pounced on by what he'd begun referring to in his head as his scaly nemesis.

"Oh come on! I haven't even left the apartment and come back in yet!" Ichigo complained, using both hands to hold the lizard's open jaws away from his throat.

The lizard didn't seem to care.

A few drops of its' drool hit the floor next to Ichigo's head and a sizzling sound was heard. Yikes.

* * *

The first day off he had, Ichigo went out to the most deserted place he could find, namely the middle of a forest, and played around with his new powers.

Until recently, he acknowledged, he had only been ignoring and coping with them, not paying attention to the glowing letters and levels aside from his own (which had gone up to twenty-eight, incidentally, and he blamed it entirely on the lizard that kept attacking him). The thing with fedora-guy had convinced him that that was mistake, and if he was going to have to deal with people who weren't his dad or a giant lizard attacking him out of nowhere he was damn well going to practice with what power he _did_ have. He kind of wished he'd spent a bit more times playing video games now though, as it would have been nice to have a starting point...

The first thing he did after getting to his selected training spot was take a second, more thorough look at his skills list. He made a mental list of the ones that had to do with fighting and made training and leveling them up a top priority. Some of the resist skills looked like they were pretty useful, and it turned out that his latest one was called _Resist Light_. Weird name, and he wasn't entirely sure what it was supposed to do, but that was a pretty minor concern in the grand scheme of things.

Now he started off his training by running through several basic warm-up exercises to avoid straining his muscles, and then began practicing all of the karate moves that he could remember.

It was actually rather therapeutic, he reflected, just letting his body flow into the stances instinctively and lash out with punches and kicks at imaginary enemies. He made use of the surrounding trees, using branches for pull-ups and fallen trees as targets for his attacks. He also ran up tree trunks and pushed off to perform back-flips, turning the wood into platforms that he could jump off of and use to help with mid-air kicks, working up a fine sweat as he exercised.

([ _Close Combat_ has gained a level!]

[Endurance has gained a point!]

[Strength has gained a point!])

Well, that was cool.

After leveling up a few skills, not stopping until each one that popped up had gained at least two levels, he decided to bite the bullet and activate the skill he'd used to defeat fedora-guy. Once the weight on his back appeared and he was sure the skill had taken effect, he started doing his warm-ups and other work-outs again and wow, his active skill had gained another level already.

It was pretty much play-time after that.

Turned out with his _Fallen Angel_ skill he could create the same sort of glowing spears as fedora-guy, except his were a brighter, richer blue. Said skill was rather obviously named _Light Spear_. It was still pretty sweet.

He honestly had no clue what the weight on his back was, but when he was playing around with his energy-spear skill he found out he could fly.

Ichigo wasn't ashamed to admit that he actually cracked a smile when he discovered that, hovering almost twenty feet off the ground and just enjoying the feeling of standing in the open air.

It was through sheer luck that he happened to glance to the side and find out what the weight was: wings.

He had wings in his new form. Two large, black-feathered wings reminiscent of a crow's.

Now that he concentrated, he could feel the pull and flex of unfamiliar muscles connected to his back, and that was a pretty strange sensation, even by his standards. He was honestly amazed that he hadn't noticed that the first time he'd changed, but he figured he could give himself a break, considering the situation he'd been in at the time. It was still a weird feeling though, and it would definitely take some getting used to.

After a few minutes staring at his wings, Ichigo shrugged and went back to playing around, now mostly working on improving his aim with his energy spears and trying to hit specific targets while flying around. He may or may not had done some mid-air acrobatics in the process, but even if he had there was no around to see it.

His Light Spear skill increased in level at an almost horrifying fast rate after that. It was level twelve, or at least he thought it was, by the time he stopped playing around with it.

Ichigo really hoped that no one from Karakura ever found out that he'd used his light spears to create a smiley face design on the ground or he'd never hear the end of it.

As he drifted slowly downwards to land of the ground, dismissing the glowing spears around him and slowly breathing in and out to relax his muscles, the orange-haired teen was feeling pretty damn good about things. His new powers were pretty great so far, and he was definitely having fun being able to fly again. He was no longer powerless, even if it was a power he wasn't used to.

He blinked when the rush of power suddenly left him, the weight of his wings disappearing from his back and leaving him confused as he looked down at his hands. He marveled at the difference he felt between the power of his fallen angel form and his usual strength. It kind of reminded him of the surge he'd felt whenever he'd left his body to fight as a Soul Reaper...

After a minute, he shrugged and decided to try out his so-far ignored Devil form.

Turned out he could fly in both forms.

Sweet.

Also, the bat wings were kind of cool, and so was the dark forked tail even if it took a bit of getting used to.

When he looked down at his hands he noticed he had some rather wicked-looking talons. He stared at them for a minute, then shrugged and went back to flying. He couldn't do anything about them, so he was going to concentrate on mastering his new wings if it killed him. Which it very well might, he thought wryly as he narrowly avoided slamming face-first into a tree. He leveled up several times as he flew through the forest, mostly his Alertness skill when he avoided crashing into various foliage, but hey, he'd take what he could get.

What really threw him off was his enhanced senses - it hadn't taken him long to figure out that his hearing and eyesight had been greatly improved, especially when he managed to both see and hear a squirrel in a tree almost a football fields' length away. It had been eating a nut. His greater senses had thrown off his balance, but after some instances of almost running into trees he managed to adjust, and it was actually pretty cool.

Ichigo returned to the spot where he'd practiced his spear-throwing and landed just in time to stumble as the rush from his Devil form faded and he was suddenly sans wings, tail, and claws.

He immediately said, "Game menu, skills." and the world darkened as the bigger than usual blue window appeared. He scrolled down the page until he got to the skills he was looking for, amber eyes intent as he read.

([ _Fallen Angel Form_ , active skill, Level 3]

[ _Devil Form_ , active skill, Level 3])

Well, that was pretty good, considering he figured that he'd only been able to hold either form for around six minutes after he activated them. Of course seeing as how he didn't have a watch that wasn't an exact time limit, but next time he transformed he was going to have a clock ready to time himself. He didn't want to have the form disappear while he was in mid-air, as that would definitely be a bad thing.

He also made a mental note to look in a mirror sometime after transforming, just out of curiosity.

Oh look, his _Devour_ skill had gone up too. And he still didn't know what that one did.

Looking closer at the skill list, he noticed that there was something like a tab up at the top of the list that read 'Spells'. Okay, what the hell?

Ichigo tried clicking on it, but nothing happened and after a minute he shrugged. It was probably nothing important, he decided before closing the game menu and starting back towards the city. He was starting to get hungry, and he chuckled because it just figured that training his new powers would work up an appetite.

He was in the mood for sushi, he decided.

When he got home, as per routine, the giant lizard ambushed him. And stole his leftover sushi.

Ichigo cursed.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Well, a little shorter than previous chapters, but that seemed as good a place as any to end it. As you can see, Ichigo has begun exploring his new powers, and he'll have a lot of fun with them once he gets to a certain level. ;) As always, constructive criticism is welcome! Review on your way out, please!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: Here's the somewhat long-awaited next chapter, I hope you enjoy and that it was worth the wait. :) You finally get to see what that lizard thing that was attacking Ichigo is called!_

* * *

The rest of the week leading up to the start of school passed in a strange sort of routine: he got up, took a shower, got dressed, fought off a murderous reptile, had breakfast, and headed off to his part-time job.

On the day that school started, however, the routine changed.

When he walked into the living room the morning of his first day of school he expected the lizard-thing to attack him, so he was understandably thrown off balance when he saw it just standing in the middle of the room like it was nothing unusual. And was it just him or had that lizard gotten bigger?

Six red eyes blinked at him, and the lizard tilted its' head as if wondering why he was just standing there. It has also definitely increased in size, as Ichigo saw it was now the size of a small horse instead of just a bit bigger than a komodo dragon.

His eyebrow twitched, because what the hell?

At least he finally got a chance to see what the red letters above its' head said, he accepted grudgingly, flicking his gaze up cautiously while still being braced for a sudden attack.

[Hell Basilisk, Level 30]

And it was just one level below his own...yeah, he didn't know if that was a good thing or not. On one hand it wasn't attacking him yet, so it was good, but on the other he was just waiting for it to spring its' trap. It was the size of a horse too, so knocking it out would be even tougher and how the heck did it keep getting into his apartment?! It couldn't even fit through the door now!

While Ichigo had a mental freak-out, the Hell Basilisk shuffled closer and leaned its' head over to sniff at the teen's bright orange hair. It made a soft hissing growl that managed to be more purr-like than growl-like and Ichigo jolted when the surroundings dimmed and froze - including the Basilisk - and a loud, obnoxious voice started bellowing in his head.

"You have established a bond with _Hell Basilisk_ ," it yelled, "Your _Hell Basilisk_ bond is now level one!"

His eyebrow started twitching again, and he was grateful when a pop-up appeared, even if it was one that he hadn't seen before.

[Hell Basilisk has joined your party as an active-combat type! You can now request to fight alongside Hell Basilisk for an indefinite length of time.]

What the fuck?

Ichigo looked at the amazingly docile basilisk (that was probably its species, he decided) and felt more out of his depth than he had when he'd first become a Soul Reaper and had to hunt Hollows. He was in the middle of an ocean of confusion and there wasn't a damn life-boat in sight.

He named his new pet/party member Akagyoushi* for lack of anything better, and he was mildly amused to see the name above the lizard-creature's head shift into the name he'd just given it.

And apparently The Voice had also received the update, because it belted out the lizard's new name as it informed him that his Akagyoushi bond had gained a level.

He hoped that there was some way to turn down or mute that damned Voice.

Several hours later, as he stood in line to receive his class schedule, he came to the depressing realization that there wasn't.

At least the lizard had stayed at the apartment.

One of the things Ichigo had immediately noticed about Kuoh Academy (that was its name! He knew it started with a K!) was that the old school building there was practically coated in that whole 'go away, nothing to see here' warning vibe that had previously enveloped the entire school.

The Occult Research Club members also had bright red letters above their heads. He was starting to realize that this meant something, though he wasn't sure what.

He was fairly certain that they weren't giant lizards in disguise (he hoped).

Considering that the President of the club, Gremory Rias, clocked out at a whopping level thirty-seven and the rest of the members that he'd seen were all in the twenty-thirty range, he was also fairly certain that none of them were human.

This was confirmed when he got lost looking for a place to eat and discovered Toujou Koneko, a small girl who looked like she twelve instead of the teenager she was, with her back to him and lifting a metal bench over her head with one hand.

He turned around and walked away.

Aside from the minor instances where Ichigo caught glimpses of the students with red letters above their heads and abnormally high levels the day actually passed by without incident. He didn't dare let out a sigh of relief until the final bell of the day rang and he walked out the school gates.

He pointedly ignored the threatening aura surrounding the old school building. He _was not_ getting involved with whatever that was.

So he did the sane, normal thing to do and went back home to get into a wrestling match with a horse-sized lizard creature.

What? It helped him level up.

One of these days he was going to have to figure out how Akagyoushi kept getting into his apartment (and fix those scratches on the walls) though...

Considering the new size difference, his customary fight with Akagyoushi actually went pretty well. He only got bitten once, and his _Resist Poison_ skill went up a level and took care of that quickly enough. There were also several new scratches, more like gouges, in the walls, but he was getting better at ignoring those.

For lack of anything better, he gave Akagyoushi some instant ramen before the lizard disappeared. His bond with the basilisk went up when he did, so that was cool.

Now he kind of felt guilty for knocking the basilisk out so many times before.

But only a little bit, since the damn lizard was going to cost him a fortune to fix those scratches in the walls.

And come to think of it, he should probably look into setting aside some money from each paycheck so he could save up to buy some furniture for the place since he was going to be staying there a while. Sitting on the kitchen counter to eat would only get him by for so long, he figured.

It was while he was in the bathroom changing into his work uniform for a late shift that something occurred to him, and he eyed the mirror speculatively...nah, he didn't have time.

He'd see what he looked in Devil and Fallen Angel form some other day, for now he had to get to work.

* * *

He was stocking the shelves in the back of the store when someone slammed into him from behind, knocking him forward enough that all the things he'd just put up came crashing down around him.

Ichigo scowled because there went his track record of work days where nothing bad happened, though he was honestly glad that this was just a mundane bad instead of _really_ bad.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" A female voice spoke from behind him, and he turned his head enough to catch a glimpse of green hair and green eyes before he turned his attention to the mess around them.

"It's fine, nothing seems to be broken," Ichigo spoke, smiling as he knelt down to start picking things up.

[ _Charm_ has gained a level!]

How? He hadn't even done anything!

The green-haired woman knelt down next to him, giving him a much better look at her appearance; the person who had bumped into him was a tall, well-endowed woman with green hair and green eyes, as he'd noted before, with prominent eyelashes and thunderbolt-shaped eyebrows. Her attire of a cropped, v-neck t-shirt and short shorts exposed her midriff and a good deal of her cleavage, showing off her figure to terrific effect.

He took all that in a single glance before noticing something behind her - it was simple white hat with a black bill, but what held his attention was what was stitched onto the hat. A Quincy cross, just like Uryu carried with him. He was shocked, and not just because he had never expected to see that particular design again. He had thought that Uryu and his dad were the last Quincies left, but if this woman was wearing their symbol...he didn't know what it meant, but he had a sinking feeling that at some point he would find out.

Just then he noticed that she had started to pick things up as well and he looked back at her face and smiled as he said, shoving his confusion to the back of his mind, "Thanks, picking all this up will go much faster with two," and it did. Ichigo set the stuff on the shelves as the objects were picked up, stocking as he and the woman cleaned, and within ten minutes everything was back on the shelves in their proper place. He was just glad that that shelf hadn't had anything breakable on it.

Looking back at the green-haired woman, he noticed her face seemed a bit red, but other than hoping inwardly that she wasn't sick he made no mention of it and instead thanked her again for the help.

She laughed, waving one hand back and forth in front of her, the other hand holding her hat, as she said cheerfully, "No problem, it's the least I could do seeing as how I bumped into you and made the mess in the first place!" She had the grace to look both ashamed and apologetic so Ichigo could only smile and forgive her.

Abruptly, she stuck out her hand between them and beamed, "The name's Candice Catnipp - er, I guess it would be Catnipp Candice, wouldn't it?" She introduced herself, stumbling a bit about which name was supposed to come first.

He shook her hand, because really, what else was he supposed to do?

He also introduced himself even if he _was_ wearing a nametag, it was only polite after all.

When they parted ways a minute later and Ichigo returned to stocking the shelves, he couldn't help wondering at the odd zing he'd felt the moment their fingers had touched...

After a moment he shrugged it off and went to get the next box that needed unpacking. It was probably nothing anyway.

Unfortunately for him, the final nail in the coffin of his good-day streak came when he was walking home and he happened to pass by a large alley.

There was a huge blur, he felt something grab hold of one of his arms with a grip like iron and the next thing he knew his back was colliding with the dead-end at the back of the alley. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, shaking his head slightly as he stumbled, unsteady after his sudden change in location. He looked up when he heard hoarse, grating laughter coming from the mouth of the alley.

Then he saw what had grabbed him and really, really wished he hadn't looked up. The thing was repulsive, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It looked like a cross between a toad and an antelope and oh dear kami those two things should never have been combined. Its head and body were toad-like, as were its back legs to an extent though they ended in hooves. Two antelope horns jutted from its head, and its front legs were an inverse of its back ones, being shaped like an antelope's but ending in toad-like hands. And the whole thing was covered in a thin film of slime, which made its green and yellow toad skin glisten in a way that made him want to throw up.

Its mouth opened, revealing yellowed, jagged teeth like a shark's, and a kind of bleating croak emerged from its throat. Yeah, he had to kill this thing before it made him lose his lunch, Ichigo decided.

As far as he was concerned, getting rid of the thing would be doing the world a favor.

He had to lunge to the side, pressing himself up against the alley wall in order to dodge the lashing tongue that suddenly emerged from the monster's mouth. Apparently its tongue took after the toad side of it then, and he made a mental note to avoid it. Unfortunately, as it turned out that was easier said than done.

The slimy appendage was surprisingly agile, making mid-air twists and turns that spoke of the high level of control that the toad-antelope had over each muscle in its tongue. Saliva splattered the walls, the ground, and Ichigo when the tongue was cracked like a whip, and he had honestly never felt anything more disgusting in his entire life. He shuddered in disgust, wiping his hands over his face and shaking them to get rid of as much of the goo as he could, snarling a curse under his breath that would have made a sailor blush before activating his Fallen Angel skill. That thing was so freaking dead it wasn't even funny.

Ichigo ran forward the minute the weight of his wings appeared on his back, dodging the toad-antelope's tongue as it attempted to spear him, and ignored its croaking squeals as he punched it from the side. It barely moved, but he'd felt its slimy skin give under his fist and he knew his attack had done some damage. Some, but not enough, and he wasn't in the mood to play around with the monster.

He conjured an energy spear and swiped at the creature, taking immense satisfaction in cutting off part of its disgusting tongue. Those squeals were starting to give him a headache and he went on the attack to try and end the battle faster.

That was about when he found out that those frog-legs weren't just for show when the creature jumped up and over him, reversing their position. In the time it took him to spin around, the thing lashed out with that disgusting tongue again and it was all Ichigo could do to avoid letting it get a hold of him.

Dragging out the battle was the last thing he wanted since he could only hold his Fallen Angel form for so long and he could practically hear the clock ticking as he dodged the toad-antelope's attacks. He was forced to close his eyes to avoid getting some of that horrible slime in them, but that meant he didn't see the creature's tongue striking until what felt like a line of fire cut into his side.

Instinctively moving away and opening his eyes, he was relieved to see that the injury wasn't that bad, more of a graze than an actual strike, but it burned like lava (and he would know). A closer look revealed tiny thorn-like barbs on the monster's tongue, currently stained with his blood, and why the hell did that practically tiny slice hurt so much? Hissing between his clenched teeth, he fended off another tongue-strike with his energy spear, then narrowed his eyes as he took careful aim. The spear sliced through the air with a high-pitched shriek and hit its mark, skewering the monster straight through its torso and pinning it to the wall behind it. Unknown to him, his spear had also stabbed into the fuse box behind his target.

The monster began to scream and sparks flew; Ichigo's eyes were wide as electricity crackled around the creature, causing its limbs to thrash spastically. It didn't stop there, and right before his astonished eyes the thing _exploded_ , blood, guts, and gore flying everywhere, splattering across the walls and floor of the alley.

Even Ichigo wasn't spared from the steaming mess of the monster's entrails despite standing at the mouth of the alley. His eyes slammed shut just in time, but the rest of his front wasn't so lucky. He was now painted head to toe in blood, and he could swear he'd felt something slimy slide down his back. He was so horrified by the sensation that he couldn't even move, let alone gag like he wanted to. The expression on his face was one of ultimate disgust.

Note to self, Ichigo thought blankly, the light spear was an electric attack. Don't stand too close when using it.

It was about that time that his transformation ran out, and he had to run back to his apartment so he could change before the oddly blackish-red blood dried. He didn't pay attention to the screens in front of him telling him several skills had leveled up, because at this point all he wanted was a shower and some fresh clothes.

* * *

 _*Red Gaze. Ichigo has quite the naming sense, doesn't he?_

 _Author's Note: And there you go! Ichigo's first battle with a Stray Devil, hope I didn't flub it too much. :P Leave a review and let me know what you think, as always constructive criticism is welcome!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's Note: Thank you all for waiting patiently, and so I present to you chapter 6! I hope you enjoy it._

* * *

The minute he'd gotten back to his apartment after the fight with the slimy monster he'd shrugged out of his bloody clothes and jumped in the shower, carefully washing out his wound in the process and trying to figure out why in the blazes it was burning so much.

Nearest he could figure, the toad-antelope must have had something in its saliva to help it incapacitate prey, likely by causing pain. This theory was supported by the fact that he got three pop-ups in quick succession telling him that his Resist Poison had leveled up.

A day after his fight with the toad-antelope he'd taken his blood-stained clothes to the laundry to do what he could to rescue them. Sadly, his clothes had been beyond salvaging, and he resolved never to be so close to his target the next time he used his electric spear on something. The resulting stains were not worth the trouble.

Thankfully the next week passed without anything unusual happening, which Ichigo thanked his lucky stars for.

He was actually getting pretty good at ignoring the glowing red letters above some of the students, and he went in the opposite direction whenever he saw a member of the Student Council or Occult Research Club, feeling wiser for doing so.

He still hadn't figured out why they were the only students with red letters over their heads, but he hadn't really been trying that hard either, having been mostly focused on his grades and skills.

Although, he supposed he couldn't exactly count it as a completely normal week, he mentally corrected himself as he glanced to the side at the extremely bizarre sight of a _girl_ walking with _Hyoudou Issei_ , arguably the biggest pervert in the school. He appreciated the strangeness of the sight accordingly.

Ichigo turned to head back home to feed Akagyoushi and have his daily wrestling match with the overgrown lizard, wondering at the heavy feeling in his gut.

The orange-haired teen spared a moment to hope that the feeling of dread was because of the yakisoba he'd eaten last night, he'd thought it had tasted a little off. He doubted he would get that lucky, so he could only hope that whatever was going to happen wouldn't be too bad.

The next day, Issei Hyoudou had red letters above his head.

Ichigo sighed.

He knew he wasn't lucky enough for that feeling yesterday to have been from bad yakisoba...

* * *

He was minding his own business looking for a place to eat lunch when the sound of running footsteps reached his ears and something slammed into him from the side. He was able to stay on his feet, but the person who ran into him wasn't so lucky.

Blinking curiously, Ichigo looked up to see the newly-red letters of Issei's name - along with a rather pathetic level of four. He actually felt kind of sorry for the guy, at least until the shorter teen shot back up to his feet and grabbed hold of the front of his uniform jacket.

Ichigo was three seconds away from punching the kid in the face when Issei demanded. "Kurosaki-san! You remember my girlfriend Yuuma, don't you?!"

There was a desperate expression on his face, and Ichigo frowned more deeply as he searched through his memory, tossing out just as the perverted boy started to look devastated, "You mean that girl you were with yesterday?" He definitely remembered the bizarre sight of a girl actually tolerating the pervert's presence, but he was kind enough not to add that.

A look of such profound relief crossed Issei's face that Ichigo honestly felt a little uncomfortable as he quickly removed the other student's hands from his uniform, shifting his gaze elsewhere as he took a step back.

"You do remember! I knew I wasn't imagining things!" Issei exclaimed, and Ichigo had to wonder how many people he'd asked his previous question to if _this_ was his response to the former Substitute Soul Reaper's rather lackluster reply.

He was guessing quite a lot, because there was no way that Ichigo would be the first person he ran to ask about his apparently vanished girlfriend. He was just guessing she was gone, considering Issei was asking if he _remembered_ her rather than if he'd _seen_ her. It was actually a lot like what had happened to his own classmates that time that Byakuya and Renji had shown up to take Rukia back to the Soul Society for that farce of a trial before Aizen's betrayal had been revealed...and now he was sure that the pervert's former girlfriend wasn't human. What color had her letters been again?

While Ichigo was trying to remember if he'd ever gotten a look at the mystery girl's - her name was Yuuma judging by what Issei said, though he had no clue if that was her real name or not - letters, the shorter teen had backed up and slid down the closest wall until he was sitting against it. Hands gripping his hair, Issei was the very picture of dejection and Ichigo could practically see the aura of depression around the pervert.

Okay, he officially felt the tiniest bit sorry for the other teen, pervert or not.

Sighing under his breath, Ichigo reluctantly spoke up, "Hey, maybe you should talk to that Gremory Rias person, or maybe Shitori Sona. They seem like they'd be able to give you some answers." After all, they were both in charge of groups full of people with red letters. That was probably significant.

"Buchou?" Issei looked startled, then thoughtful before he nodded and stood up, "Thank you, Kurosaki-san! Just knowing someone else remember Yuuma really helps. I'll talk to Buchou after school like you said!"

And with that, the pervert took off running. Ichigo just stood there blinking and feeling like he'd just missed something important.

...Dang it, lunch was about over and he still needed to find a place to sit down to eat. He'd think about this new development while he ate.

* * *

By the time school ended that day, Ichigo was pretty certain that Gremory Rias and Shitori Sona along with the various other red-lettered students were the same type of being. Those two were the highest level, so they were the leaders of their respective club/council. It was a pretty easy stretch to make.

Sure he still had no clue what they actually _were_ , but he was making progress! Also, now that he was thinking about it, the feeling he got near Shitori Sona (and to a lesser extent Gremory, but only because he had only seen her three times) reminded him a lot of the atmosphere that time he'd gone to Hell to save Yuzu, except a lot fainter, almost nonexistent...The whole situation was shaping up to be just one big headache, he thought with a silent groan.

Why was he even bothering to try and figure it out again? Oh yeah, because somehow a bunch of students' memories got erased and that hit a little too close to home. Why could Issei remember though? He had been directly involved with Yuuma and should have had his memories wiped first. That was standard procedure for this kind of thing, as far as he knew from that time with Rukia.

Something about this wasn't adding up, and that set off all kinds of warning bells in his head.

His sharp amber eyes narrowed in thought as he shrugged so his backpack rested more comfortably over his shoulder and started walking towards his apartment.

It was a tricky puzzle to piece together, but he knew several things for certain, the first of which was that Shitori Sona, Gremory Rias, and their respective groups had red letters above their heads just like Akagyoushi did (he really hoped they weren't giant lizards in disguise, he really did). The second thing was that that Yuuma girl Issei the pervert had been seeing wasn't human - he'd finally remembered what color her letters had been, and they had been the same exact shade as fedora-guy's. His conclusion? Yuuma had done whatever she had set out to do and decided to cover her tracks much like a Soul Reaper would, by erasing all memory of her having been there, but for some reason had overlooked Hyoudou.

Granted some pieces were missing from his deduction, but his conclusion made sense. Now he just had to figure what Yuuma, or whatever her name was, actually was and what she had wanted with the pervert.

(Ichigo just knew that whatever it was, it couldn't mean anything good for the poor pervert.)

The day after that was the weekend and he didn't have work that day, so Ichigo held off on heading to his training spot in the forest and instead took a walk around town.

He was searching for more places that had that ominous 'Stay Away' feeling like the old school building at Kuoh Academy, because in his experience supernatural beings didn't usually want to mingle with humans if they had something to hide. He figured if that Yuuma chick was still in town she would be behind one of those barriers designed to keep people away or make a certain spot unnoticeable.

Of course he had no reason to think she had stuck around after messing with the students' memories, but it was better to be safe than sorry, he figured.

Four hours of wandering around later and he struck gold in an abandoned church on a tall hill overlooking the city.

He really had to stare for a few minutes because seriously, the dark, spooky atmosphere and ramshackle building? Could they _be_ any more cliché? On second thought, he really didn't want to know the answer to that.

Ichigo smoothly ignored the dark feeling in the air that seemingly urged him to look away from the church and leave, smirking slightly when the pop-ups dutifully informed him that his Resist Compulsion skill had activated and also gained a level. Awesome. He took his time scoping out the church, walking slowly around the perimeter of the barrier and getting a feel for it, paying no attention to the way it tried to compel him to leave. There didn't seem to be any security measures aside from the barrier in place, but appearances could be deceiving (Nel was a prime example of this).

There was no way to tell if that Yuuma girl was actually hiding out in the church or if it was another creature entirely, he reflected as he did a thorough search for traps along the road leading to the building. Still, it was the only lead he had...oh look, his Resist Compulsion skill went up again.

When he'd looked around as much as he could short of actually entering the church, he turned to start walking back to town. He had wasted some valuable time doing reconnaissance on the place, but seeing as there wasn't really anything he could do at the moment, it was time for him to head to his training spot for some practice. He was still a little shaky on handling the enhanced senses of his Devil form, so that was something he should definitely be working on.

Ichigo felt the exact moment he stepped beyond the range of the barrier and kept walking, making a mental note to come back another time and gather more information. That place didn't sit right with him, and he needed to know if the beings hiding out there were going to be a problem.

So much for staying out of these types of things, he thought with a resigned sigh. Even if it was just gathering information about a potential supernatural threat, it still galled him that he'd wound up getting involved in something like this again even after he'd vowed to stay out of it.

He picked up his pace a bit as he headed for his training ground.

He felt the need to do some damage.

Ten minutes after he reached his training area and shifted into his Devil form, slicing at wayward branches with his claws and darting through the trees, a pop-up appeared that he'd never seen before.

[Congratulations! Your _Devil Form_ is now level 5! Which skill do you wish to learn?]

Underneath that were the words _Telekinesis_ and _Telepathy_.

Ichigo stared.

What the hell?

* * *

 _Author's Note: It has come to my attention that some readers might be wondering about some of Ichigo's skills, so I have decided to include a basic list in this chapter of the abilities that Ichigo had paid attention to (to give myself some wiggle room)._

 _Active Skills:_

 _Close Combat: Level 20_

 _Intimidation: Level 2_

 _Devil Form: Level 5_

 _Fallen Angel Form: Level 4_

 _-Light Spear: Level 17_

 _Passive Skills:_

 _Resist Poison: Level 19_

 _Resist Paralysis: Level 26_

 _Resist Petrification: Level 7_

 _Charm: Level 4_

 _Resist Compulsion: Level 16_

 _Alertness: Level 29_

 _Resist Light: Level 1_

 _Devour: Level 14_


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter. Thank you all for chiming in with your opinions about what option Ichigo should pick, and so without further ado, here's the result!_

* * *

It probably said something about him that after a few minutes of gaping at the strange pop-up he'd clicked on the _Telekinesis_ option without hesitation, Ichigo reflected. And then he'd started levitating small sticks three feet off the ground.

Of course considering the skill was only level one, small sticks were practically the only things he could move with it.

According to what it said about it on his skill list, the higher the level Telekinesis was the heavier the objects he could lift with it. Hence level one meant he could only levitate things one pound or less.

He had only been allowed to pick one, so he'd chosen the power that seemed to have the most practical applications, and okay, maybe he thought it would be cool to move things with his mind. And hey, he was having fun making the sticks move around in circles and loop-de-loops, snickering when he formed a crude stick-picture of Rukia's beloved Chappy the Bunny in mid-air.

This was awesome, he decided as a pop-up appeared to inform him that his brand new skill was now level three, and seconds later his transformation ended, the sticks he'd been playing with falling to the ground. He blinked, taking a moment to readjust to not having wings and a tail anymore, before he shrugged and started stretching. He'd held that one form for longer this time, so that was definitely an improvement.

Which reminded him that he'd forgotten the watch. Damn it.

Scowling, he reluctantly brushed it off since there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, sighing as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers. A thought occurred to him, and barely a second later he was jumping up and shifting into his Fallen Angel form, hovering in the air as he looked at the ground beneath him thoughtfully.

The thought that had inspired him was this: if he could create energy spears, who was to say that he couldn't control how much energy went into them? If nothing else it might cut down on the chances of his targets exploding...which was really all the motivation he needed to experiment with that particular power.

Conjuring a glowing spear, he looked at it thoughtfully, frowning as he attempted to sense how much energy was in it. He wasn't very successful, since apparently his ability to sense _reiatsu*_ or other energy wasn't miraculously improved by his new powers. It was just another thing he had to work on, he thought grudgingly, throwing the spear in his hand towards a fallen log, blowing an impressive hole in it but otherwise leaving the wood intact.

Humming in thought, Ichigo concluded that the Light Spear skill had possibilities, and he promptly began trying to figure out a way to decrease the power in his attack. If it was anything like his Getsuga Tensho had been he figured he might be able to wing his way through it.

Ichigo had fun experimenting, and right before the time on his Fallen Angel form ran out he managed to charge his energy spear with enough power to blow the much-battered form of his log target into smithereens. He was rather proud of himself as he landed on the ground and felt his wings vanish and the rush of power ebb.

The orange-haired teen looked at the destruction caused by his training with a small amount of satisfaction - he hadn't managed to weaken his energy spear, but hey at least he managed something with it! He was feeling pretty damn good about his progress when another pop-up appeared, this one making his eyebrow twitch.

[Congratulations! Your _Fallen Angel Form_ is now level 5! You can now choose your primary Sin!]

What the fuck?!

Moving his eyes over the screen, he paused when he saw a question mark next to the word sin, and he tapped it curiously. The text on the screen changed, and the information revealed was definitely useful.

[A Fallen Angel's Sin is the reason why they fell and affects the powers and abilities you can gain. The Sin you select as your primary will help determine the bulk of your abilities as a Fallen Angel. Example: a Fallen Angel that has the primary Sin of Wrath will be granted an increase to attack powers and battle related skills.]

Beneath that was a basic rundown of the sins he could choose from, and he scowled as he debated with himself. He didn't think he'd get a chance to change his choice once he made it, so he had to choose carefully.

In the end he decided to go with the example the text had used, as increased attack could definitely be useful if he wound up in more fights, and with a quick tap of the back button and another click of his choice his Fallen Angel form now had the Sin of Wrath.

He paused, his brow furrowing before he tried activating his Fallen Angel form again, not sure if he had to wait to change again or not, but when the now-familiar flash of blue filled his vision he was reassured. He flexed his hands and wings, not feeling any different than he normally did in that form, and man was that a relief. For a minute he'd thought that his Wrath sin would affect how he felt or acted in that form, but he was really, really glad that that didn't seem to be the case, as he wasn't feeling particularly wrathful.

Sighing in profound relief, he deactivated the skill and started stretching again. That was probably enough training for one day if he wanted to get back home before it was completely dark out.

Lowering his arms from where they had been raised above his head and feeling the kind of exhaustion that only came from a good long work-out, he set off back towards the city.

* * *

As usual, the minute he entered his apartment he was ambushed by Akagyoushi, who was apparently rather put-out with him for not being home to feed the lizard in a timely manner.

Ichigo just focused on not getting bitten and trying to minimize the damage done to the walls.

He was not successful. At either one of his goals.

He knocked out the basilisk just on principle. His Akagyoushi bond went up.

When he woke up the next day after a good night's sleep, it was to the sight of Akagyoushi's head hovering three inches away from his face and six glowing red eyes staring into his own.

Ichigo will forever deny that the sound that emerged from his throat was a squeak.

Ten minutes later, once he got his heart rate under control, Ichigo pushed himself up from where he'd instinctively lodged himself in a corner of his bedroom. "What the hell was that for, you damn lizard?" He demanded, wiping some sweat off his brow with the back of one hand.

Akagyoushi blinked innocently, which didn't really look that innocent considering he (Ichigo was assuming the basilisk was male until proven otherwise) was a giant reptile the size of a Clydesdale horse. Ichigo sent him a thoroughly unimpressed look before shuffling into the bathroom to take care of his morning business. He washing his hands when something occurred to him, and he shot a look at the reptilian head peering at him through the doorway, asking Akagyoushi wryly, "I take it you aren't here for a fight?"

He wished he could say he was surprised when the basilisk shook his head.

When his pet/party member started making low hissing noises and motioning through head gestures for Ichigo to follow him, the former Substitute Soul Reaper mentally waved a goodbye to whatever normality he'd managed to obtain. Not that he'd had a lot of it, but still!

For lack of anything else he had to do, he followed the basilisk. He had to wonder where Akagyoushi was planning on going, seeing as the basilisk was too big to fit through the door of his apartment...

His question was answered when Akagyoushi somehow managed to squeeze through the door to the guestroom and made his way over to the closet, Ichigo following a few steps behind to avoid the basilisk's tail (when did it grow spikes? He was sure those hadn't been there the first time he'd seen Akagyoushi). Akagyoushi stuck his head through the open door of the closet - wait, since when was it open? He was sure he'd closed it during his walkthrough of the apartment - and breathed out some kind of red mist.

The inside of the closet started glowing a bright red.

Ichigo was reasonably sure it wasn't supposed to do that. And why was Akagyoushi looking at him like the basilisk wanted him to step into the glowing closet?

He didn't like where this was going - that sinking feeling was back, and his Sense Danger skill sent him three pop-ups. That was pretty much confirmation that he wasn't going to like what was about to happen, he thought in resignation. He was proven right when Akagyoushi got tired of waiting for him to get moving, moved around until he was behind the orange-haired human, and then shoved Ichigo into the glowing red doorway that had formed in the guestroom closet.

Damn it.

* * *

Falling through a portal to who-knows-where was definitely an experience, and not one that Ichigo cared to repeat any time soon.

There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, and then a tugging feeling on his stomach and he was hurtling forward accompanied by the sensation of falling headlong towards the ground from the top of a very, _very_ high cliff. Not to mention the bright red glow that blocked his vision. Not fun, at least in his opinion, and scarcely a minute later (but it felt like longer) his feet touched the ground and he promptly fell flat on his face.

Yeah, that was graceful, Ichigo mentally grumbled. Thankfully there was grass wherever he was to cushion the impact.

Blinking the spots from his sight, he spent perhaps an inordinate amount of time staring at the green grass beneath his body. He really, really didn't want to look up and see where that portal had taken him, but he knew he had to, so it was with a heavy sigh that he cautiously pushed himself up onto his knees. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his gaze from the ground and looked around.

The first he noticed was that the sky was purple, _purple_ , and he died a little inside at the sight because that meant that he definitely wasn't in the Human World any longer. At least it was a nice shade of the color, he thought distantly, groaning as his head lowered in acceptance. There came a time when everything went so strange that all you could do was smile and accept it, and he was pretty sure this was one of those times. He wouldn't be smiling, but he knew how to go with the flow with the best of them. He kind of had to, considering the situations he tended to get into...

His eyes closed in resignation, it took him a few minutes to gather up the courage to open them again and take a better look around, resolutely ignoring the purple sky. He would deal that later. Much, much later.

A swift glance around revealed that he was standing in front of what looked like a castle. A _ruined_ castle. The building looked like it had been bombed - once proud towers lay in pieces around the courtyard beyond the demolished gate, there were holes in the walls and roof and craters in the ground. It was a miracle the place was still standing, to be honest. There had obviously been a large wall around the estate once upon a time, but not any longer. Chunks of stone were everywhere, and with all those holes in the walls it was a wonder they were able to keep supporting the roof - not that there was a lot left of it, but still.

It had clearly been the site of some kind of conflict, or maybe just the unfortunate victim of an attack, and judging by the plants growing over the rubble and state of disrepair the few intact portions of the castle were in the battle/attack had happened a long, long time ago.

Slowly rising to his feet, Ichigo gazed at the crawling vines and vegetation wrapping around the crumbling gates and he couldn't help lowering his head for a moment in respect.

Raising his head back up, he looked around some more, but other than the ruins in front of him the only things around him were trees, trees, and more trees. He was in the middle of a forest in front of some ancient ruins.

Akagyoushi was a dead lizard walking.

Since he had no clue where he was or what dimension he was in, for lack of a better idea he cautiously entered the ruins he'd been dropped in front of.

Crossing the courtyard was an adventure in and of itself, since the grass was up to his knees and easily concealed chunks of stone that might have once been part of a wall and/or tower, just waiting to trip passer-bys. Ichigo sadly qualified, even if it was against his will.

The orange-haired teen got to the front door, which was actually still in one piece as far as he could see, and had to lean against it for a moment to catch his breath. He had been lucky to make it through the grass without twisting his ankle or taking an embarrassing fall, and it had been even more dangerous than it usually would have been since he _wasn't wearing any freaking shoes_.

Yet another reason to be pissed at that overgrown reptile.

Scowling fiercely, he turned to face the door, raising one eyebrow in curiosity when he noticed the strange symbol engraved in the metal. He couldn't quite make out what it was, covered with rust and grass as it was, but it sure as hell wasn't Japanese.

And speaking of Hell, now that he took a moment to really breathe in the air and try to get a feel for the energy of the place, he realized that it was very, very similar. Not as thick, but the feeling was definitely there. It wasn't exactly the same, of course, more like a really diluted version of the atmosphere in Hell, but that just caused him to become even more confused about where the heck he was. He was floundering and he knew it.

Groaning lowly and raising one hand to massage the bridge of his nose, Ichigo finally sighed and decided to just roll with it. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, and he had no clue which way to go to find someone to help him get back to the Human World, let alone if there was even anyone else in that particular dimension with him. He encouraged himself to think positive, after all he was at the door of an ancient, partially destroyed castle, so he would do what it only made sense to: go exploring.

He pushed open the door, having to strain to get the aged hinges to cooperate, but after some pushing and shoving he managed to get the obstruction to open enough for him to slip inside.

Sure he could have just gone in through one of the holes in the walls, but that seemed rather unnecessary when he was already at the door.

* * *

*Spiritual energy

 _Author's Note: And there you go, the beginning of Ichigo's first dungeon adventure! Depending on how it turns out, Akagyoushi might be in trouble, LOL. Please review and tell me what you think!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, but here's chapter 8! Hope you all enjoy it!_

* * *

One good thing about exploring the castle ruins, Ichigo decided a little bit later, was that he didn't have to worry about his lack of a flashlight or lantern. There were so many holes in the walls and ceiling that the light had no trouble coming in.

He also came to the conclusion that whoever had owned the place had been _seriously_ rich.

This theory was supported by the fact that the few decorations that were intact, not to mention the carvings on the walls and on the furniture, were of an obviously expensive quality and not mention well made, to have survived for as long as they had against the elements.

The dominate theme in the decorations seemed to be lions and wealth, from what he could make out from the sporadic appearances of statues and discernible carvings. And they were really detailed, too. He could almost swear that that one lion statue had glared at him as he walked passed...

Ichigo sneezed as he walked by some particularly dusty drapes, the once rich burgundy fabric a shadow of what it had once been, he'd wager.

All things considered, he was really lucky that there wasn't any broken glass on the floor, and the rocks sharp enough to damage his feet were large enough that he could see and avoid them. It was almost tragic really, how such a once-beautiful castle had been reduced to little more than rubble. Such a shame, he sighed quietly before beginning his exploration in earnest.

Going up what few stairs he found that didn't look like they were in danger of collapse, he figured out pretty soon that the second floor rooms were a lost cause...and were those _claw marks_?

He went back down to the first floor, quickly found what had once been a library and was now only a graveyard of torn books and shredded paper, and then quietly moved on. The dining hall he discovered had had its table reduced to splinters and the chairs to kindling, and the offices were a strange combination of the latter and former. What he assumed to have once been guest quarters were nearly completely decimated - the beds had suffered the same fate as the dining room table, as had the dressers and bedside tables.

The former Substitute Soul Reaper left no stone unturned though and even went so far as to look the closets of the rooms that had them. Most of their contents were ripped, torn, and generally unusable, but he lucked out when he peered into the closet of the master bedroom (or he guessed that that was what it was - it was a bedroom and it was by far the grandest one he'd seen). Pushing aside the tattered remains of a cloak, there was a pair of intact, though rather old and dusty, boots tucked into the corner of the closet as though the owner had just thrown them there and promptly forgotten about them.

Ichigo thought they look kind of pretentious, what with being made of some kind of fine black leather and studded with bright bluish-green gems that for the life him he couldn't identify, and the buckles were what looked like pure silver, though tarnished with age.

He shrugged it off; beggars couldn't be choosers. He picked up the boots, sitting down right there and then to put them on. He never noticed the gems on them glimmering more brightly than light could explain as he flexed his toes inside them.

Miraculously they fit, and he sighed in relief at finally having something to protect him from pebbles and sharp sticks waiting to poke holes in the bottoms of his feet. He'd had a few close calls exploring the second floor.

Standing back up, he continued looking around the master bedroom, but aside from the boots in the closet it seemed like everything was just as wrecked as the stuff in the other rooms. Dresser and bed both reduced to splinters, drapes fluttering in the wind and looking more like ribbons than curtains, and what looked like a huge scorch mark right in the middle of the large rug between the bed and the dresser. He probably didn't want to know what had caused that.

Leaving the room, he wandered around until he found the kitchen, or at least what was left of it...which promptly reminded him that he hadn't had a chance to eat breakfast before Akagyoushi had abducted him.

A low growl echoed through the kitchen, the source coming from the stomach of the teenager standing in the doorway. He resolutely ignored it, as there wasn't anything he could do about anyway.

One eyebrow twitching, Ichigo groaned as he walked over to the nearest cabinets and starting opening them, looking inside for anything that was either intact and/or useful. The first few cabinets yielded nothing, and he had to wonder about who had destroyed the place way back when, because whoever they were had been very thorough.

Fifteen minutes later and he stood up from where he'd crouched to look under the sink, stretching his back with a relieved groan before looking back at the fruits of his labor: three plates and one bowl. That was it. Granted they were rather pretty for dishware, all of them being an aged white color with still visible depictions of sharp, bold icy blue lines that formed the shape of a snarling lion's head, but really. He searched practically the entire mansion and all he had show for it was a pair of boots and some dishware. Although he supposed it wasn't all bad, considering he'd been meaning to buy some plates and such for his apartment and this would save him a couple of yen.

Gathering up his plunder into a tablecloth that was filthy yet mostly intact (which was more than could be said for the drapes), he tied the ends together in a sort of makeshift sack and left the kitchen.

It was reminding him of how hungry he was, which he did not need thank you very much.

Somehow he ended up in the library again, and he set his impromptu bag down by the door before venturing further into the room. He hadn't really explored the place when he'd first found it, but since it was pretty much the last room he hadn't checked he figured now would be the best time to get to that.

First he had to clean up some of the mess so he could see where he was going though.

Thirty minutes to an hour later, Ichigo was rewarded for his decision to pick up some of the papers (that were written in some language that he couldn't make heads or tails of) when he unearthed a surprisingly intact book from beneath the shattered remains of a desk.

It was bound in some kind of leather and looked pretty simple compared to the other empty spines he'd tossed into one of the corners. There was gold letting on the cover, and between one blink and the next a pop-up appeared above the cover of the book.

[ _Beginners' Guide to Magic_ ]

Huh, it actually translated. That was convenient, not to mention appreciated. He was about to shrug and add it to his table cloth bag when another pop-up appeared.

[Do you wish to destroy this book and learn its contents?]

What.

He scowled; stupid changing game mechanics.

Ichigo held off on deciding what to do with the book, instead stashing it with his new dishware and returning to poking around the library. Hey, if one book survived then maybe others had too. It was worth a shot anyway, so there was no harm in looking.

Then he bumped into one of the candle holders attached to the walls, felt a small static shock, and heard a muffled _clunk_ right before a section of wall opened up, revealing a set of stairs leading downwards.

A secret passageway.

Neat.

He went down the stairs because really, what else could he do? He was curious.

* * *

Ichigo's journey down the hidden staircase was an exercise in his dodging ability and his Sense Danger skill proved its worth a dozen times over.

He had to avoid retractable spears, arrows firing out of the walls, spikes in the ceiling, and in one case a tripwire that triggered all three. In the end he was practically sprinting down the stairs, staying barely one step ahead of the traps that triggered behind him. He would have been swearing up a storm if he had been able to spare the breath for it.

By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, just barely managing to jump over a wall of spikes that emerged in his path and turning an impressive front flip in the process, he was sweating and panting and feeling like he had just gone another round with Grimmjow.

The orange-haired teen leaned over, bracing his hands against his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Sweat dripped from his brow to land on the floor, and he groaned as he gasped out, "Please let that be all there was to the traps,"

He really shouldn't have said anything...

Four trapped hallways later, Ichigo was seriously considering just saying screw it and heading back up to the library.

Whatever there was down there could hardly be worth the trouble he had to go through to avoid the traps! For pity's sake he had even shifted into his Devil form as a form of self-defense, that last poison dart trap would have gotten him otherwise!

On the upside his Telekinesis had gotten a work-out and gone up a few levels, so that was something, not to mention he'd discovered that as a Devil he could see perfectly even in complete darkness. That alone had probably saved his skin more than a few times during the last two hallways. He was still tired of the whole mess though, and his irritably lashing tail telegraphed that quite clearly.

Ichigo could practically feel the clock ticking on how long he could hold his Devil transformation, so he sincerely hoped that he was getting closer to the end of the gauntlet he'd found himself running.

He turned down the fifth hallway and he deadpanned when he saw the holes for spikes in the walls, floor, and ceiling.

Really? He thought incredulously, staring at the gauntlet he would have to run, exactly how paranoid were the people who had built this damned place?

The answer to that was probably _a lot_ , but the former Substitute Soul Reaper couldn't care less. He just raised one hand to massage the bridge of his nose and groaned under his breath - seriously, there was no way that whatever was down here was worth the trouble he was going through to get to it. He was going to stand by that opinion no matter what it turned out to be.

First he had to figure out a way to get through the Hallway of Spiked Death, as he'd decided to call it.

When in doubt, go with the simple solution.

Narrowing his eyes, he activated his Telekinesis, only instead of lifting something off the ground, he envisioned a kind of bubble around himself. Hopefully the bubble would stop the spikes from touching him as he concentrated on keeping something down instead of picking something up with his skill.

It worked, surprisingly enough, and he made it through to the other side with no injuries aside from some rattled nerves when the spikes that came out of the wall stopped _just short_ of impaling him. He'd get over those pretty quick though.

[ _Telekinesis_ has gained three levels!]

[Active skill: _Repel_ has been created!]

...He didn't even want to know. He was just glad he wasn't dead.

Two hallways later and Ichigo's shoulders slumped in relief when he finally, _finally_ , got to the end of the trapped passageways.

"It's about fucking time," he breathed out, leaning over and bracing his hands on his knees as he panted softly. Man, that Repel skill had really come in handy, and he was worn out from all the traps he'd dodged. It was a good thing he'd gotten to the end when he did, because he suspected his Devil transformation was about to run out of time.

When he got his breath back and looked up, he saw he was standing in front of an iron door decorated with carved images of demons, what looked like ice, and more of those weird symbols he'd seen on the papers in the library. When he looked closer at the top of the door he could make out a series of lines that, after a few minutes of thought, he managed to place as the same design that had been on the plates he'd found in the kitchen, the snarling lion face. He had a feeling that that was important for some reason, but he couldn't seem to come up with a reason why.

Looking at the door cautiously, he decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and used his Telekinesis to turn the heavy-looking handle and open the door. The symbols on the door flared an icy blue and he had to quickly dodge to the side to avoid being hit by what looked like a bolt of ice, but hey, the door was open now!

Just in time too, as his wings and tail disappeared abruptly, almost making him stumble at the sudden shift in his center of gravity. He recovered quickly and blinked as he entered the room beyond the door, having to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. Once his eyes adjusted enough that he wasn't seeing spots, he lowered his arms from where he'd brought them up to protect his vision...

* * *

 _Author's Note: Okay, not the most exciting chapter, but hey, Ichigo got a new skill! That's something, isn't it? :) Please read and review! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, but here's chapter 9! Hope I do the image in my head justice. ^.^_

* * *

The room was _enormous_. That was the very first thing Ichigo noticed as he looked around and gaped in shock, a distant part of his mind thankful that apparently the magic lights embedded in the ceiling and walls of the room were still working.

He couldn't be sure, but he was reasonably sure that the room he'd entered was over six football fields wide and twice as long. It was cavernous, to be poetic about it. A great deal of that space was taken up by mountains of treasure, though the first thing he really registered was the sheer volume of gold coins that dominated his sight.

Some of the piles of gold almost touched the ceiling. Ichigo was duly impressed.

Picking up a coin that was near his foot, he saw it had a stylized skull on one side and a crown on the other. Weird but cool, he decided, tossing the coin back into one of the hills of gold.

There was a thin path through the mountains of treasures, and he cautiously began following it, hoping that he wasn't going to wind up buried under a ton of gold because wouldn't that just be the perfect end to his day? He snorted at the thought, making sure not to brush against anything as he walked. As he went deeper into the treasure room, he began to notice that gold wasn't the only thing in there, not by a long shot, and he had to stop and stare for a moment - dear gods, that ruby was the size of a soccer ball! And the diamond next to it was even bigger!

If nothing else, the orange-haired teen decided, he was taking those jewels with him when he left.

Rubies and diamonds weren't the only gemstones there, far from it, and most of those Ichigo didn't even know the names of. There were beautiful though, and doubtless there were even more jewels that he couldn't see underneath the gold coins. As he approached the back of the vault - because really, what else could it be? - he started seeing things other than gold coins and gems. A gauntlet here, a pair of boots there, a mirror partially hidden behind a statue to the right...there was a myriad of objects and he looked around intently to see what else was in there.

At first glance he counted at least seven full sets of armor and twice that number of weapons (was that sword on _fire_? What the hell?!), and that was just what he could see!

Hold on, was that a _throne_?

Ichigo turned fully to face the out of place piece of furniture and saw that yes, it was indeed a throne. An excellently crafted one at that, the wooden parts being a rich mahogany color and the rest being done in shades of light blue and white. He wondered what the deal was with the previous owners' obsession with those colors was about, then shrugged since it wasn't like it really mattered anyway.

At last reaching the end of the cleared path through the treasure, he stopped to catch his breath. If nothing else, he thought wryly, his unplanned trip to a different dimension was great cardio.

To be honest, he spent the next ten to fifteen minutes just looking around at the wealth around him in awe, trying to accept the fact that yes, he really did just stumble onto what he imagined would be a king's ransom. Seriously, who were the people who'd lived in the castle above and presumably used to own all this stuff? And was the reason there hadn't been anything of value in the castle because it had all been moved down to this vault? It would certainly make sense if that was the case.

Carefully beginning to explore the treasures around him, he stop the corners of his lips from quirking up when he found not only conventional treasures like gold, gems, and jewelry, but also _furniture_. There was table, a desk, chairs, side-tables and pretty much everything else you'd need to furnish a house. There were even a couple of dressers and a bed! All decorated in shades of blue and white, of course.

He didn't know how, but he was definitely taking the furniture with him when he left; it would save him from spending thousands of yen on buying new furniture for the apartment, though he doubted it would fit in his small home.

Whatever, he was taking it anyway.

Ichigo couldn't sort any of the valuables around or even dig through the mountains of gold to see what else was around, there was simply too much of it. He hadn't brought his makeshift bag down with him either, so he had a problem: how was he going to get this stuff back up the stairs? Sure the traps were spent, but he couldn't even begin to imagine how many trips back and forth he would have to make to create even a dent in one of the smaller piles of gold.

Crossing his arms and tapping his fingers thoughtfully on his elbows, he scowled before admitting to himself that he was at a loss as to what to do. There might be a bowl or something around that he could use as a temporary container, but damned if he would be able to spot it with everything else in the way. He was about to give it up as a lost cause and just stuff his pockets with gold and grab some of the larger gems when he suddenly remembered something.

He promptly smacked himself in the forehead for forgetting something important: his inventory.

Now was as good a time as any to see what it could do since he had never used that particular function before (fedora-guy's hat was still sitting on his kitchen counter, come to think of it). He immediately said, "Game menu, items." and watched as the world around him dimmed and a blue screen showing many empty squares appeared. Even looking at how many squares there was he wasn't sure even half of the gold would fit, let alone all the other treasure - oh look, he could scroll down.

It turned out that he had three full pages of empty squares, about a hundred squares in total.

Awesome.

Experimentally picking up a few nearby coins, he tossed them through the screen. When nothing appeared in one of the top squares, he frowned, wondering if something had gone wrong, but then he noticed something on the right side of the inventory screen, some kind of arrow. When he clicked on it, a side panel with various types of currency listed on it appeared. In front of the word 'gold' there was a number ten, the exact number of coins he'd tossed through the screen, so he guessed that the coins and other money he put into it didn't use up any inventory slots. Sweet.

He started chucking coins into his inventory screen, having fun watching the number of gold he had turn into a blur as it kept increasing as fast as he could toss gold into his inventory. When he'd cleared out the loose coins around him he started in on the mountains of them around him.

* * *

Ichigo had no idea how long he spent putting gold through his inventory screen, but by the time he closed his inventory screen and took a break the muscles in his arms were sore. He slumped down into one of the chairs he'd unearthed from one of the gold piles, breathing out a sigh of relief as he absently stretched his arms to prevent cramps from appearing during his break.

And he hadn't even started on the stuff that might appear in his inventory squares!

The orange-haired teen was dreading finding out how much time had passed in the Human World while he was moving the contents of the vault into his inventory. He could only hope he hadn't missed too many days of school/work, even if the gold meant he probably didn't have to worry about rent money so much anymore. Also, by the time he got back he was going to have some furniture, so that was definitely a plus.

Ichigo groaned as he stood and called up his inventory again, getting back to work on shoveling gold coins through the screen that appeared. Luckily he didn't seem to be locked in place like he was when he accessed the game menu or his skill list or else transferring that gold would take a lot longer, he reflected as he absently added an armful of coins into his already-considerable amount.

If he could move one armful at a time it would take forever to get it all - there just _had_ to be a faster way, but what could be faster than picking them up...

For the second time that day Ichigo slapped himself in the head.

As it turned out he could activate his Devil form skill while the inventory was up, which was definitely helpful.

His Telekinesis skill got quite a work out as he began levitating as many coins as he could at one time (which should be about seven pounds worth, considering the skill's level) and sending them flying through the screen. The flying coins looked like golden streamers as they moved through the air, shining and sparkling under the magical lights. Yes, he thought triumphantly, this was definitely faster than picking them up one armful at a time.

The best part was that the more he used Telekinesis the more it leveled up, as the pop-ups informed him before he idly batted them away and another one took its place, and the more he could lift with it. Soon the streamers of coins looked more like rivers as more and more of them were lifted into the air to flow through the inventory window. The number to the side of it recording the number of gold coins he had was just a blur as the total increased every second.

Taking advantage of the fact that he could move around while his inventory was up, he made himself comfortable on one of the chairs he'd found. He sat back, folding his hands behind his head as he put his Telekinesis skill through its paces. His tail was draped over one of the arms of the chair so he wasn't sitting on it, and he sighed happily. This, he decided, was the life.

By the time the time on his Devil transformation ran out, he hadn't even cleared out a quarter of the coins in the vault but his Telekinesis was a whopping level twenty-one, which he was pleased about. As a bonus, he could now see some of the things that had been buried under all the coins although he wouldn't be able to tell what everything was until he went digging and got a closer look.

Ichigo took a deep breath, then let it out slowly as he straightened in his chair. He stood up, peering around at everything he'd managed to uncovered and his first thought was, ' _Wow, that's a lot of furniture_ ,'. He counted at least a dozen beds - including mattresses - in the small area he'd managed to clear alone. It looked like there were enough beds to furnish every bedroom in...the...castle...

This time he didn't slap himself, but it was a close thing.

If he really thought about it, assuming the people who owned the castle knew they were going to be attacked it would make sense for them to remove everything valuable, that way even if they lost the ones attacking wouldn't get anything to show for it. And apparently 'everything valuable' translated to even the tables and furniture. If he took that thought a step further, the previous owners might even have replaced everything with cheap knock-offs to make the attackers think they were getting something so they wouldn't look for the actual valuables. Double insurance in case they lost the battle, which they had judging by the state of the above castle.

He looked around at the treasure hoard, feeling a bit more respect for the original occupants of the property.

Bowing his head for a minute in respect, he straightened up and rolled his neck until it popped before he picked up a chair. Looking at it for a moment, he shrugged and shoved it through the inventory screen. A tiny picture of the chair appeared in the empty square in the top left corner of the screen. He stared before saying, "Cool." and moving on to shove ten more identical chairs through the screen, though thankfully each individual chair didn't take up its own space in the inventory. Instead, a small number eleven appeared in the corner of the chair picture, showing how many of them he had in there.

Convenient, he decided.

When the number on the chair picture reached thirty Ichigo stopped, having run out of chairs he could reach without wading through piles of jewels. He dreaded having to move that couch he'd seen beneath what looked like silk drapes, as it looked solid. And heavy.

Oh well, for now he would focus on the gold coins and maybe that side table over there by the silver lion statue...

Ichigo smirked, transforming into a Devil once again and setting to work.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Yeah, it's going to take Ichigo a chapter or two to get all that treasure into his inventory...any requests on magic items he should find? Nothing too OP, please. :) Please read and review and tell me what you think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's Note: First of all, I want to dedicate this chapter to the Parisians. Second, I hope all you readers enjoy this chapter._

* * *

Ichigo groaned as he collapsed back into one of the chairs he'd left out of his inventory, his Devil form fading away once again as he took several deep breaths.

He honestly had clue how long he'd been working on moving the gold coins into his inventory, but his Telekinesis had gone up another five levels and his Devil form had gone up two. He had certainly given both skills a workout, he thought wryly, his shoulders slumping as his muscles started relaxing. He leaned his head back against the back of the chair, not bothering to suppress the yawn that emerged and made his jaw pop.

Almost absently he dismissed his inventory and the rest of the world regained its color. He was going to take a slightly longer break this time to give his powers a rest, he decided, and it wasn't like he couldn't afford to. A full quarter of the coins in the vault were now officially in his inventory along with thirty chairs and seventeen side tables. Oh, and a set of drapes he'd levitated into the screen just to see if he could.

Seeing as how the area around him was clear of coins, he figured during his break he'd take a closer look at some of the stuff that had been uncovered. He was still doubtful about being able to lift that couch though, even _with_ his Telekinesis (which had proved itself to be a damn useful skill if he did say so himself).

What followed was an exercise in futility, as he soon discovered. The things closest to the cleared area he could examine to his hearts' content, but anything behind that first row? No dice. He wound up bracing himself with both hands on a silver lion statue and doing some kind of weird ballerina pose to get a better look at a mirror wedged between a large trunk and no less than eight shields before he gave it up as a bad job.

As he straightened up, he never noticed the faint blue shimmer that ran over the surface of the statues before he took his hands off them.

Ichigo was just glad that no one had been around to see him do that...

He did find a pile of bracelets and rings on top of a dining table though, so his poking around wasn't a total loss. He shoved them all into his inventory without really looking at them passed seeing that they were made of silver and almost all of them featured sapphires (with the odd ruby and emerald thrown in). They were pretty, so he was keeping them and that was all there was to it. They took up some space in his inventory and only a few of them stacked, but whatever.

Deeming his break over, looking around at the dimmed vault around him, he shifted into his Devil form and got back to work. His Telekinesis skill was likely going to be in the sixties by the time he was done moving all the gold...

And it turned out his prediction was right on the money, as the pop-up telling him that his Telekinesis had gained another level, bringing its total up to sixty-eight, appeared just as the last few gold coins passed through the dark screen. He was sweating from exertion as his form changed back to his regular appearance, having to bend over and brace himself on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. He honestly didn't know how much time had passed, but his Devil transformation had timed out five more times and gained two levels before he'd managed to move all the gold.

On a good note, the vault now looked a _lot_ bigger, and as the saying went, Ichigo thought wryly, no rest for the weary.

It was really amazing how much stuff had been buried under all those coins. He wasn't too sure he wanted to keep some of those statues though - a lot of them looked kind of tacky. Most of them were silver, but there was some stone ones and he dreaded having to move all of them.

There were shields, swords, axes, bows and arrows, spears, and a lot of weapons he couldn't even identify (was that a _flail_?). And that wasn't even taking into account all the armor, jewelry, and other accessories he found. There were also paintings - some of them he thought were really good, even if he didn't know the people in them - and vases and statuettes and a lot of other things. His head was spinning just taking in all the things he could identify at a glance!

The people who used to live in the castle had been filthy rich, he thought distantly, looking around with appreciative eyes. Once he got everything in his inventory he would probably have a better idea of what all there was, since he really didn't want to waste time carefully examining each and every little thing in the vault. He'd been down there long enough as it was, he was thinking.

But first, he had to take another rest...

* * *

Energy restored after a short - he hoped - nap on the uncovered couch, Ichigo once again endured the flash of blue taking over his vision as he transformed. He was about to start levitating the rest of the furniture into his inventory when he was brought up short by a pop-up.

[Congratulations! Your _Devil Form_ is now level 10! Which skill do you wish to learn?]

Below that were the words _Hypnosis_ and _Telepathy_.

He shrugged after a minute and clicked one, not really thinking too deeply about it. He was honestly more concerned by the fact that that bright red cloak he could see on top of a golden-framed mirror looked to be trimmed with fire. Actual fire, not just a flame pattern.

[Active skill: _Telepathy_ has been created!]

Huh, well that answered the question of what he'd picked...

Moving on.

He returned to staring at the flaming cloak for a minute before lifting it with his Telekinesis and sending it to his inventory along with the mirror and three shields that were glowing with an icy blue light. He didn't want to know, he really didn't.

Then he discovered what was apparently the book section of the treasure hoard.

"What the fuck?" Ichigo said in a perfectly deadpanned voice, his expression completely blank.

He was staring, because _damn_ that was a lot of books. He scratched his head, looking quizzically at the towering stacks of books and wondering if these were the ones that were actually supposed to be in the destroyed library upstairs. All of them were giving off a feeling of age and knowledge and magic, if that made any sense, and he could actually imagine them lining the bookshelves in the castle above.

Eyebrow twitching, Ichigo sighed deeply and just started moving them into his inventory. Yeah, he probably wouldn't have a lot of room left after he got done with that section but what the heck. Some of them would probably come in handy.

He was already turning his attention away from the book when a plain scroll caught his eye as he was about to store it and he grabbed it out of the air. He didn't know why, something about it just sparked his interest. He looked at it, expecting something to appear to give him a general idea of what was in the scroll like it had with the book upstairs, and was surprised when the pop-up that appeared over it said something different.

[Teaches Passive skill: _Written Language_. Do you wish to learn this skill?]

Wait what? Was this thing like a skill book or something?

Slightly at a loss, he clicked _Yes_ and watched as the scroll dissolved into motes of light. He waited for a minute, blinking, before he plucked another book out of the air as it floated by and experimentally opened it. There were more of those strange symbols he'd seen upstairs, but right before his eyes they changed into something he could understand. He stared.

...Okay, he could admit that that was pretty cool.

Also, the book he'd opened was apparently about the various uses for poisonous herbs. Yikes.

Hurriedly closing the book and tossing it into the inventory (he'd discovered if he moved far enough away from it that the screen followed him, which was awesome), he kept levitating things through the screen and steadily filling up the empty squares. A surprising number of things stacked, which was definitely a relief. Of course all the squares on the first page and half of the ones on the second were still filled up and he wasn't even through a fourth of the vault but hey. Nothing he could do about that.

Ichigo took things methodically, clearing one section of the vault piece by piece until, by the time his transformation wore off, he had a quarter of the place cleared of treasure. His inventory was almost full though, which could definitely be a problem...

Seeing as how most of the space was taken up by books, a slow smile crossed his face as a way to free up some room occurred to him. If they were anything like that book upstairs and the scroll that gave him the ability to actually read the weird symbols, then it shouldn't matter if they dissolved afterwards since he'd still get the knowledge/skill.

It worked with the scroll, so why couldn't it work with the other books?

He started pulling books out of his inventory and sure enough, pop-ups appeared in front of each one asking if he'd like to learn what was in it. He just kept on clicking _Yes_ , barely glancing at the skills he gained. Some of the books had to say a bunch of the same things though, since his newly acquired skills - or at least he thought they were skills - sometimes leveled up instead of him getting something new.

Pretty soon he used all the books and freed up a great deal of space in his inventory, so he counted that as a win.

Closing the inventory screen for a moment, he was about to exit the game menu for another rest when, on a whim, he clicked on 'skills'. What popped up though made him frown - where the Spells tab had been was now the word 'Grimoire' and he had to wonder why it had changed even as he tapped it. The screen switched and was replaced by a blank slate with words on the left side; his options being _History_ , _Spells_ , and _Bestiary_.

Huh, interesting...but he'd fiddle around with it another time. Right now he had to concentrate on clearing out the damned vault and figuring out how to fit all the treasure into his inventory, so a couple of swift taps of the back button brought him to the game menu and then the inventory.

Looking at the remaining hoard around him, he couldn't stop a groan from escaping before reluctantly trudging over to the next area to be cleared. Evidently the time he'd spent clearing the books out was enough time for his energy to recover and he shifted once more into a Devil without any problems. He had to admit, he was starting to like the tail, and the wings weren't half bad either, he decided.

Chuckling softly as he raised his hands like a maestro conducting an orchestra, he set to work once again, using his Telekinesis even as he made like he was directing a choir. What? He had to liven things up somehow! It was getting boring just standing there and watching objects float by and disappear into a blue screen!

Shields and spears and axes went flying by and into the inventory, along with the odd halberd, pike, and trident. The magic lights in the ceiling caused the weapons to shine, showing there was no trace of rust on any of them and creating a rather impressive lightshow as they soared through the air.

Oh look, a katana! Neat.

Into the inventory it went. Wow, that free space hadn't lasted very long...

* * *

 _Author's Note: I know, I know, he's spent almost three chapters in the vault, but I was going for realism considering how much stuff is in that vault. This seemed like a good enough place to end it, and hey, in the next chapter you get to find out which family the vault used to belong to! :) Last chance to submit ideas for things to find in the vault, and as always constructive criticism is welcome!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This is my present to you guys for the holiday, so I hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

Ichigo didn't know how, but he managed to get the entire contents of the vault into his inventory and he could only say, "Thank kami for stacking..." before groaning in relief and sitting down on the floor.

Trying to catch his breath, he leaned forward until his head was resting on his knees, panting as he slowly but steadily recovered. It was a good thing that the more his Devil form leveled up the longer he could stay in it, because otherwise it would have taken a lot longer to clear the room. Now his Devil form was level twelve, his Telekinesis was level seventy-three (those silver lion statues had pushed him over the edge for his last level up), and he was more than ready to get the fuck back to his apartment and see how many days he'd lost.

He wonder if he could send the dresses and women's clothes he'd found to Karin and Yuzu without getting yelled at later...probably not, he decided.

[Active Skill: _Devil Form - Duke Valefor_ has been created!]

...What the fuck?

You know what, he didn't even care right now. He'd look it up later and figure out what it did.

Pushing himself to his feet, he walked to the lone door to the room and left the vault, hoping desperately that he wouldn't have to deal with all those traps again. He didn't think he had the energy left to transform one more time, and he was pretty sure that his Devil form could use a break. So he cautiously began backtracking through the hallways, not daring to relax until he turned a corner and spotted the bottom of the stairs.

Thank kami the traps hadn't magically reset, because he really didn't want to have to deal with dodging any more arrows and/or darts. It was all he could do not to trip on something in the dark passages as it was, he thought grumpily as he began climbing back up to the library.

What was he supposed to do with all the crystal glasses and other dishware? There was no way they'd all fit into his kitchen cabinets.

Ichigo groaned as he realized he now had _more_ problems to deal with.

* * *

The first thing he did when he got back to the library was dig the _Beginners' Guide to Magic_ book out of his makeshift bag and click 'yes' when the pop-up appeared.

Watching as it disappeared into specks of light, Ichigo picked up the tablecloth-bag and started walking towards the door he'd entered through, one problem already solved. He didn't really pay much attention to the pop-up that appeared right after the book had disappeared beyond registering that he apparently now knew magic.

Cool, but not really a big deal at the moment.

He still made a mental note to play around with the Grimoire option on his skill page later though, as that definitely seemed like something that could be fun. He could admit that he was curious about that history option...

By the time Ichigo exited the castle he had a rough idea of a plan for getting back home...only for all of it to go flying out the proverbial window when he caught sight of the huge, six-eyed black and orange lizard creature standing outside the gate.

The former Substitute Soul Reaper saw red, and he dropped the tablecloth/bag he was holding in favor of lunging at Akagyoushi. " _You stupid lizard! I'm going to turn you into a pair of boots, you sorry sack of scales!_ " He howled, voice full of righteous fury.

What followed was more 'knockdown-drag-out fight' than their usual friendly matches in his apartment, but hey, Ichigo was pissed. Can you blame him for wanting some payback? It hadn't been fun falling through a portal to who-knows where and those traps on the way to the vault had been really hard to avoid!

Akagyoushi was K.O-ed within six minutes, sprawled out on the ground - and were those swirls in his eyes? Nah, couldn't be - while the orange-haired teen was dusting his hands off smugly. And he had some skills level up in addition to the level that he himself had gained, which was always nice. He made a mental note to look in the mirror sometime and see what level he was at since it had been awhile since he'd checked.

Speaking of levels...he looked at the downed Akagyoushi and raised an eyebrow when he saw 'level 48' glowing in red after the basilisk's name.

Huh. He could have sworn that Akagyoushi's level had been in the thirties the last time he'd seen him, and was it just him or did he look bigger? He also didn't remember the lizard having that many spikes...What was going on with that basilisk? Seriously.

Five minutes later, his eyebrow twitched again when the basilisk rolled over and stood up, calm as you please with his tail swaying. He was _so_ through with this damned lizard. "No sushi for you for at least two weeks, and that's only if you can get me back to my apartment." He informed Akagyoushi bluntly.

The basilisk went wide-eyed (which with six eyes looked really weird).

A large red circle appeared around them as Akagyoushi breathed out more of that red mist Ichigo remembered from his first impromptu trip through a portal. Then there was a tugging sensation behind his navel and he only had time for one curse before the sensation of riding a roller coaster returned and it was all he could do not to throw up.

Definitely not giving Akagyoushi any sushi for a freaking _month_ , puppy-dog eyes be damned!

* * *

Ichigo stumbled when the spinning sensation from the portal ended, promptly falling flat on his face and getting a mouthful of carpet in the process. He was back in his guestroom!

He had precisely two minutes to feel overjoyed at the fact that he was back in his own world before Akagyoushi stepped on him.

Ow.

* * *

He didn't talk to the apologetic Akagyoushi for a week, even if it turned out he'd only been gone for the rest of his day off.

When the overgrown lizard started whining after three weeks of no sushi he gave in on that at least. He swore that basilisk's devastated, please-forgive-me looks were on par with Yuzu's...

* * *

At lunch the day after he canceled Akagyoushi's sushi ban (and his bond with the lizard predictably leveled up), he was finishing off the last on his onigiri when Issei Hyoudou ran up to him.

"Kurosaki-san! There you are!" the pervert actually _beamed_ at him, and Ichigo wondered if he had somehow ended up in an alternate dimension without noticing. "I just wanted to thank you for telling me to talk to Buchou, she explained some stuff and it really helped!" Oh, so that was why the perverted boy was talking to him. While Issei began rattling on about how talking to Gremory had helped him a lot and how he understood things a lot better now, Ichigo idly flicked his gaze to the glowing letters above the kid's head.

[Hyoudou Issei, Level 15]

...What? How'd the pervert level up so fast?

Ichigo turned his attention to what Issei was saying in time to hear, "...and I wasn't sure about the whole contract thing at first, but it turned out to be really fun even if some of the customers are kind of weird..."

"Contracts?" Ichigo cut in, raising his eyebrows questioningly when the pervert abruptly shut up and looked embarrassed.

"Eh heh, never mind, I just wanted to thank you again, Kurosaki-san!" Issei blurted out before turning and sprinting away, kicking up a cloud of dust as he did so. Ichigo stared.

He'd had no clue the pervert could run that fast, although he guessed it made sense considering all the times he'd had to run away from enraged females. Most notably the Kendo Club captain and vice-captain.

Ichigo shrugged and put his empty bento into his backpack before standing up. It was about time for classes to start again.

* * *

When he got home, the first thing Ichigo did - after knocking out the attacking Akagyoushi - was call up the menu and go to the skills section. Clicking on Grimoire and then selecting _History_ , he took a look at his options before cautiously clicking on the first one. The screen was then filled by text. A _lot_ of text.

[ _The Three Factions -_

 _Thousands of years ago, there were the Three Factions of_ _ **Angels**_ _,_ _ **Devils**_ _, and_ _ **Fallen Angels**_ _.Unlike other supernatural groups, such as the Norse Gods, Hindu deities, and Greco-Roman Gods, which were more or less independent of each other, these three were all interconnected. The Three Factions spawned the Judeo-Christian religion and became part of the Bible._

 _The Three Factions warred against each other under the leadership of the_ _ **Four Great Satans**_ _, the Biblical God, and the Fallen Angel organization, the_ _ **Grigori**_ _, led by Azazel, in a conflict which came to be known as the_ _ **Great War**_ _. After the deaths of the Biblical God and the Four Great Satans, the Great War finally ended. The Three Factions were left in a state of conflict, however due to the fact that all three sides were exhausted and lost the bulk of their main forces, neither of the three sides wanted to continue battling. While there was no peace between the factions, outright battles did not occur either._

 _After the Great War, the overall strength of the Three Factions changed drastically, with the Angels losing their God, the Devils losing their forces and their leaders, and the Fallen Angels who lost many of their forces except their leaders._

 _Following the creations of the_ _ **Evil Pieces**_ _and the_ _ **Brave Saints**_ _Systems, Angels and Devils have incorporated reincarnated humans and other species into their races.*_ ]

Pardon his language, but what the hell?!

He honestly didn't know how to react to any of that, he really didn't. He'd known on some level that the Soul Society couldn't possibly be the only place souls went when they crossed over, especially foreign souls, and he'd seen the Gates of Hell. But to find out that the God from the Bible was dead...even he needed to take a minute to process that. He didn't subscribe to that mythology, but wow, he probably shouldn't go spreading that around.

Why were some of the words in bold though?

Ichigo experimentally tapped the first bold word, which happened to be 'Angels', and watched as the text on the screen changed.

[ _Angels_ -

 _Originating from_ _ **Heaven**_ _, the Angels are powerful beings who serve the Biblical God and have the power to inflict pain upon Devils/demons due to their light-based powers. After the death of the God from the Bible in the Great War of the Three Factions, the Angels were incapable of increasing their numbers normally until the creation of the_ _ **Brave Saints**_ _System which allows Angels to reincarnate humans into Angels._

 _All Angels are similar to humans except with white feathered wings and a halo positioned directly above their heads, the only exception being Archangel Michael, who has golden wings. Their rank is denoted by the number of wings they have. Angels are often seen in white-colored clothing, mostly priest attire._

 _Unlike Devils and Fallen Angels, Angels need to purify themselves when making love and both the Angel and partner must undergo a lengthy purification ritual that takes several hours. They must also do it inside a specially crafted barrier and they both must also not harbor any kind of possessive feelings while doing it, rather it must be done out of pure love.**_ ]

"Was that last bit really necessary?" Ichigo complained, his face dark red with the force of his blush as he went back to the Three Factions page and forcefully pressed the next bold word.

Most of the information of Devils was stuff he already knew from playing around with his Devil form, but he had to read over it anyway, just to be thorough. He could admit that he mostly skimmed it, but what were the chances that it actually told him anything he couldn't find out by experimenting with his powers? When he got to the part about Stray Devils he paused though, reading through that bit more carefully.

[ _Stray Devils-_

 _Stray Devils are Devils who have diverted away from their masters. Without their masters to keep their powers in check, they become a great threat if their powers go beyond their control. The Devils take this case very seriously, and any Devil who becomes a Stray will be killed on the spot._ ***]

Was that freaky toad/antelope thing he'd killed a Stray? It certainly seemed like it, he thought with a frown. Good to know that he wouldn't be in any trouble if someone found out about that.

And now on to the last of the Three Factions.

[ _Fallen Angels-_

 _Angels that have fallen from Heaven due to going against the teachings of God and committing a Sin. The leaders of the Grigori were tempted by human women and fell after having sex with them._

 _Despite being cast out of Heaven, Fallen Angels and their subordinates have been known to occupy churches and use them as bases. However, they go out of their way to destroy all of the religious icons in these churches in the process._

 _Currently, the Fallen Angels have the smallest population among the Three Factions._

 _Fallen Angels have appearances similar to Angels with their wings, however their wings are colored black and they lack the halos above their heads. Fallen Angels are often seen wearing dark-colored clothes, mainly in the colors black and violet._

 _Like their Angel counterparts, the rank of a Fallen Angel depends on how many wings he or she has. The blackness of the wings of each Fallen Angel is also different. For example, Azazel, leader of the Grigori, has jet-black wings and feathers that have the color of everlasting darkness._

 _Unlike Angels and Devils, Fallen Angels can replenish their numbers simply by tempting the remaining pure Angels in Heaven to join them. It is unknown if it works in the opposite direction, where Fallen Angels can redeem themselves via selfless and righteous deeds to rejoin Heaven. They can also increase their numbers through childbirth._

 _Like the other races, Fallen Angels have their own system of magic, including a method to wipe the memories of large groups of people.****_ ]

Well then, it seemed that the Yuuma girl that the pervert had been searching for was a Fallen Angel, and what he'd read also matched up with what he'd seen from fedora-guy. Black wings, the ability to wipe memories, and taking refuge in abandoned churches, it all fit. But still, why leave the pervert with his memories? That just seemed sloppy...and did it have anything to do with the fact that Issei's letters were now red?

He guessed the rust-gold color meant that the person it belonged to was a Fallen Angel, which definitely aligned with what he'd seen so far. He was going to go out a limb and guess that the red letters belonged to Devils, at least until proven otherwise, and maybe that was why Issei could remember. Maybe a Fallen Angel's power to erase memories didn't work on Devils? But he was sure it only after Yuuma and Issei had gone on their date that Issei's letters turned red...

Ichigo decided to put that question aside before he got a headache.

Now he just closed the menu, deciding to take the time to absorb all the information he'd gotten, and he mentally vowed to take some time to look at that _spells_ option when he had some free time. His curiosity was killing him about that, especially since the thought of being able to use magic was pretty cool when he thought about it.

He went to change into some casual clothes he wouldn't mind getting torn if he got into a fight. Since he was planning on going back to that abandoned church, a fight definitely had a good chance of happening.

Good thing he didn't have a shift at the store today.

* * *

 _*Everything with an asterisk is paraphrased from the wiki._

 _Skills and their levels as of this chapter:_

 _Active Skills:_

 _Close Combat: Level 25_

 _Intimidation: Level 3_

 _Spellcasting: Level 1_

 _Devil Form: Level 12_

 _-Devil Form - Duke Valefor: Level 1_

 _-Telekinesis: Level 73_

 _-Telepathy: Level 1_

 _-Repel: Level 5_

 _Fallen Angel Form: Level 5_

 _-Light Spear: Level 18_

 _Passive Skills:_

 _Resist Poison: Level 27_

 _Resist Paralysis: Level 30_

 _Resist Petrification: Level 16_

 _Charm: Level 5_

 _Resist Compulsion: Level 18_

 _Alertness: Level 30_

 _Resist Light: Level 1_

 _Devour: Level 19_

 _Written Language: MAX_

 _Author's Note: Feel free to let me know if I forgot to include a certain skill, passive or otherwise! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's Note: Well, despite being besieged by plot bunnies, both original and otherwise, I managed to finish editing this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it!_

* * *

On his way to the abandoned church Ichigo had decided that discretion was the better part of valor and instead of walking right up to the door like he had last time, this time he took the scenic route.

Taking careful note of the time (about time for the sun to start going down, he estimated), he began walking around the church about a foot away from where the barrier began. It didn't look like they'd added anything new to their security, which was definitely a good thing. When he stepped close enough to feel the barrier though, one eyebrow raised up in question at the surprising strength of it. It was a lot stronger than it had been the last time he was there, and his Resist Compulsion skill both activated _and_ gained a level.

Yeah, that wasn't suspicious in the least, he thought sarcastically, frowning at the seemingly abandoned building as he went around towards the back door he'd seen during his last visit.

He was halfway to it when he had to leap backwards to avoid a glowing yellow spear - the same type of attack as his _Light Spear_ skill? - and he performed an impromptu handstand before flipping back to his feet. His eye twitched when he heard the sound of clapping, and he looked up towards the sound in time to see the source of it descend to the ground.

"Very nice, boy, not many people can dodge my attack without even seeing it coming," The woman smiled, though there was nothing pleasant in the expression.

[Kalawarner, Level 25]

Ichigo only had a minute to get a look at the woman - and it was a woman, there was no doubt about that - but what he managed to see was a tall, buxom woman with long blue hair that covered her right eye and brown eyes. She was wearing a violet, trench coat-like top with a wide collar, matching mini-skirt (emphasis on mini), and black heeled shoes. The trench coat-top was open at her chest, giving him a very good view of her breasts and cleavage. There was a faint twinkle from her throat, light reflecting off some kind of necklace, and before he could appreciate the view he was dodging another thrown spear.

His Sense Danger skill was blaring at him, and he immediately ran for the cover of the trees, swerving to avoid thrown energy spears the entire time. He really didn't want to get hit by one of those, especially since he remembered what his own spear had done to that Stray Devil that had attacked him.

When he got to the treeline he immediately took shelter behind a tree trunk, his blood beginning to pump at the possibility of a fight and a chance to test his skills.

Ichigo was the sort of person who thrived on battle, growing and learning with each fight, and solitary training could only get him so far. This was actually the perfect opportunity for him to see what some of his skills could do, not to mention train his Fallen Angel form against a real one to see how it compared. Getting ambushed was probably one of the best things that had happened to him in about a week.

Sure his Fallen Angel form was only level nine, but maybe a good fight would push him over the edge to level ten.

He paid no attention to the level gap - he'd won fights with worse odds stacked against him.

And now that he'd gotten Kalawarner to follow him into the forest her mobility was limited, as was her range of attack since she couldn't fly with the trees so close together. Granted he couldn't fly too, but he was used to it and he was banking on the fact that she wasn't.

Ichigo enjoyed leading the increasingly-angry woman on a game of cat-and-mouse, drawing her further and further into the forest and away from the church as the sun set and the moon rose. He'd sensed _something_ closing in on the building, and it must have been obvious since he of all people was able to tell it was coming, so he decided to throw whatever-it-was a bone and decrease some of the opposition at the same time he trained.

"Damn it! Stop moving around so I can _kill you_!" Kalawarner shrieked, hurtling spear after spear towards the orange-haired teen who kept ducking behind sturdy tree trunks to evade the attacks.

"Why should I do that? You just said you were going to kill me!" Ichigo shot back, snorting in laughter as he dropped down to avoid a wildly thrown spear that nevertheless almost managed to score a hit.

Unfortunately Ichigo's luck ran out, so the speak, as the chase wound up ending in a medium-sized clearing...that Ichigo wound up standing in the middle of after back-flipping to dodge three consecutively hurled spears.

Fuck, he mentally groaned as Kalawarner began laughing, spreading her dark wings out as she gloated, "Hah! Your time is up, _human_! Now you will feel the full wrath of Kalawarner of the Grigori!" Another glowing yellow spear, this one brighter than the other ones he'd seen her make, appeared in her right hand. As the Fallen Angel prepared to launch her attack and Ichigo prepared to dodge, the moon came out from behind the clouds that had been obscuring it and a ray of moonlight illuminated the clearing.

The silvery glow dancing across his bright orange hair, Ichigo was prepared to dodge and shift into one of his other forms when he noticed Kalawarner seemed to be frozen. She was staring at him with wide-eyes, her mouth open in a soundless gape, her arm still poised to throw her spear, but she wasn't moving. If he couldn't see her breathing he would have almost thought she'd been paralyzed or petrified. He was pretty sure he hadn't used his Charm ability, but then again it _was_ a passive skill.

Kalawarner moved after several uncomfortable minutes in which Ichigo wondered if he should take the opportunity to attack, but even then she only lowered her arm and whispered, "Orange hair...it couldn't be, Dohnaseek said the one who beat him was a Fallen like us...but how many people with orange hair can there be?"

Dohnaseek? Where had he heard that name before? It took a few minutes before he remembered the name that had been above fedora-guy's head. Come to think of it he still had to do something about that hat on his kitchen counter...

The Fallen Angel woman raised her voice, her tone sharply demanding, "Show your true form! You are the one who defeated Dohnaseek, so you must be one of the Grigori as well!"

If she wanted a fair fight, then he would be happy to oblige. Ichigo shrugged, saying as the blue light enveloped him, "Well you're partially right, lady."

He stretched his black-feathered wings, conjuring his own energy spear and charging it with about half the amount of power that had destroyed the log so many weeks ago. It still glowed a vibrant blue, helping to illuminate the area along with Kalawarner's own spear and throwing his body into sharp relief.

"I knew it! No mere human could hope to evade me for so long!" Kalawarner crowed triumphantly, "I must compliment you on your glamour - I would not have known you were a Fallen Angel until you chose to reveal yourself if not for Dohnaseek's grumbling about the orange-haired Grigori who defeated him in a single blow."

To Kalawarner it made perfect sense; her opponent was not a human like she had first thought when she'd seen him sneaking around their base, but a Fallen like herself who had merely refined his glamour abilities until she couldn't tell the difference. When he had shed his human disguise, her heart had skipped a beat when the flash of blue light had vanished to reveal hair that had darkened to a deep sunset hue, a strong, handsome face and eyes that seemed to glow a searing blue. His body was chiseled and sleek, the play of his muscles easily seen beneath his clothing, and the wings he spread were the color of truest darkness.

Though he was only wearing a simple green and white t-shirt under a dark gray jacket, blue jeans, and worn sneakers there was no denying that there was an aura of power and control around him. An aura that, if she was to be so bold, she would compare to that of Lord Azazel's.

She would forever deny the blush that spread across her cheeks at the sight of her adversary's true form. She had always been attracted to powerful men, curse it, and the man across from her was definitely that if nothing else. She could certainly respect the power and control needed to completely conceal your true nature and the dedication he must have put into refining his technique.

But why was he acting against them? Their orders came from Lord Kokabiel himself, who had said he received them from Lord Azazel, so it couldn't be on orders that he attacked them. Or at least she didn't think so.

Forcefully yanking her thoughts back to the here and now, Kalawarner once again raised her spear and said warningly, "Fallen Angel or not, for attempting to interfere in our plans you will be eliminated!" With that declaration the fight was on, much to Ichigo's relief.

He'd been getting uncomfortable with the way Kalawarner had been staring at him, but fighting he could definitely deal with.

Both combatants took to the air, black-feathered wings flapping once to gain altitude before they met in a clash of spears. Ichigo had the advantage of strength, but Kalawarner had been a Fallen Angel longer and knew her body's capabilities better, something that stacked the odds slightly in her favor. One thing that could be said was that Ichigo didn't lack for speed and strength, and his natural instincts for battle served him well as he dodged spear-thrusts and kicks.

His blood was singing with the thrill of battle, and every dodge, parry, feint, and attack just made him more and more determined to win. Unknown to him, there was an eager grin on his face as he flapped his wings once to push himself back from Kalawarner and evade the swipe of her spear. There were many more options for dodging and angles of attack while they were in the air than there would be if they were on the ground, and he took full advantage of them as he spun to the side to dodge a spear-thrust and retaliated with a swipe of his own. When he was met with a parry he seized the opportunity to land a vicious punch to Kalawarner's stomach.

The breath knocked out of her, Kalawarner went tumbling back, flailing through the air for a moment before regaining her balance and turning right-side up, but by then it was too late. Ichigo had decided that now was as good a time as any to try out something new, and he figured if he could create an energy spear in one hand, why not another one in his free hand?

[Active Skill: _Dual Light Spears_ has been created!]

It turned out that he _could_ create two spears at once, and he took shameless advantage of that ability to drive Kalawarner back and keep her at bay. Spinning his spears rapidly and combining that maneuver with rapid thrusts and swipes, he succeeded in preventing his opponent from getting close enough to land a blow.

Kalawarner was unable to completely parry the storm of attacks and rips and tears appeared in her top even as scratches appeared on her skin, barely even noticeable aside from the small trickles of blood coming from them. She only distantly registered the slight stings, instead flapping her wings frantically to put distance between them lest she get sliced to pieces by the whirling spears.

That turned out to be a mistake, and Ichigo seized his chance to practice his aim on a moving target, throwing spear after spear and creating new ones each time one left his hands.

It was like an intricate dance, her twisting and weaving away from the light spears that threatened to skewer her if she so much as missed a single step. Her heart was pounding from the rush of battle, and even as sweat dripped down her face she reveled in the sensation of battling an opponent that stood on even ground with her. However, if she wanted to rejoin Dohnaseek and Mittelt in time to confront Rias Gremory she didn't have time for a prolonged battle, and so she regretfully created another light spear and prepared to end the battle quickly.

She was taken by surprise when, after evading another barrage of spears and soaring straight towards Ichigo, her charge was halted before it had crossed even half the distance between them.

Ichigo had anticipated Kalawarner trying to close the distance between them, and he stopped that plan in its tracks by conjuring an energy spear in each hand. Throwing the spear in his left hand as a distraction, forcing her to use her own spear to deflect it, he dove to the right and circled around. He didn't have the best of luck with attacks from behind, but he factored that in as he implemented his current strategy.

When in doubt, go with something simple.

Tossing spears to keep his opponent occupied, Ichigo flew in circles around Kalawarner, moving so quickly that the female Fallen was hard-pressed to keep up and avoid getting impaled by one of the thrown light spears.

As much as he enjoyed training, it was time to end the fight, so he threw three spears in rapid succession as a distraction, already moving to attack from the side as Kalawarner spun around to deflect his feint. He conjured an energy spear, making sure to lower the power in it as much as he could, as he charged in for the final blow. The spear found its mark, slicing a long cut on his opponent's collarbone. Blood flew, and Kalawarner shrieked in pain right before he followed up with a punishing blow to her new injury.

She dropped like a stone towards the ground, having lost consciousness from the pain. He winced a bit, pretty sure he'd heard something snap from that last punch.

Ichigo caught her by the wrist on her uninjured side, lowering them both gently down to the ground just as his transformation wore off.

He left Kalawarner propped up against the trunk of a tree as he headed back towards the church.

Whoever it was that had been heading towards the dilapidated building must have finished what they were there for by now, he figured.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Well, probably not the best fight scene, but then again I am out of practice. :P I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, so please review and tell me what you think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Author's Note: Here you go, a brand new chapter to celebrate! On another note, awhile ago I finally gave in and created a tumblr account where I could dump all ideas I didn't have time to write. So if anyone's looking for a plot bunny, feel free to check it out!_

* * *

Well, Ichigo thought as he stared at the smoking holes in the church walls and roof that he was sure hadn't been there earlier, at least he was right about the mystery person's business being concluded.

There must have been quite a fight, he decided, stepping gingerly over some rubble and into the church itself through one of the holes in the wall (it was closer than the door). The place was even more trashed than he'd thought it would be from his previous examination of the exterior. Broken stone, bits of wood, and other miscellaneous remnants of destruction littered the inside of the church, though what really caught his attention was the staircase leading down. It was near the altar, and he thought the piece of stone might have concealed it at one point, judging by the drag marks on the floor at either side of the opening.

Yeah, that wasn't suspicious at all. _Really_.

Expression completely deadpan, Ichigo stared at the stairs for a minute before shrugging and going down them. Sure he hasn't had the best of luck with staircases lately, but he was going to try it anyway. He could only hope that the staircase wasn't trapped like those damned hallways back in the other dimension were...

It turned out they weren't and he reached the bottom with no problem, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so.

Then he saw the bodies strewn about the circular room around him, the giant cross in the middle of it, and he hung his head with a groan. He'd spoken too soon, apparently.

Even at a first glance he could tell that none of the people sprawled out on the floor were alive, considering they weren't breathing. The copious amounts of blood and the fact that half of them were missing limbs also helped him reach that conclusion. He scowled in disgust as he gingerly stepped over what he suspected had once been someone's intestine, because gross, he did _not_ want to get any of that on his shoes.

What? He couldn't wear those gem-studded boots he'd found in the ruined castle to school or to work, so keeping his shoes clean was important!

He cautiously made a circuit of the room, wondering what the hell had happened there, aside from the obvious 'nothing good' vibe he was getting. Also, the broken chains scattered around the cross got him wondering if maybe the dead guys scattered around the room weren't the bad guys. He was pretty sure that there wouldn't be so many pistols scattered around the room if they were fine, upstanding citizens.

A soft ' _clink_ ' made him look down, and he raised an eyebrow when he saw that his foot had nudged a sword hilt. Just the hilt, no trace of there ever having been a blade. Curious, he leaned over and carefully picked it up, finding it thankfully free of blood. He fiddled around with it, looking at it and trying to figure out why anyone would carry around an empty sword hilt.

Then a beam of light emerged from the hilt in the shape of a sword.

Ichigo stared.

Okay, he could admit that that was pretty cool.

* * *

It took him a few minutes but he managed to get the light-sword to turn off or whatever it meant when the blade disappeared. He stuck the empty hilt into one of the pockets in his jacket and picked up all the loose pistols because he didn't trust that they didn't also do something weird like the sword hilt.

He was thankful that he'd stashed a bunch of the jewelry he'd had in his inventory in the back of his closet when he'd woken up that day, clearing up space in his inventory for him to store the pistols. He was tempted to experiment and see what the guns did, but as he was kind of pressed for time he just stored them for the time being. The sword hilt he kept in his jacket, just in case.

There was no way he was touching any of the corpses, so he just walked back up the stairs and exited the church. He was getting hungry and he still had to knock Akagyoushi unconscious before he could eat.

That was when he noticed the slightly larger than normal window in front of him.

[Congratulations! Your _Fallen Angel Form_ is now level 15! You have gained the active skills: _Berserker_ and _Intimidating Aura_! You have gained the passive skills: _Spear Mastery_ and _Counterattack_!]

What. The. Hell?

* * *

After Ichigo got home, knocked out Akagyoushi, and was brushing his teeth and preparing to get at least a few hours of sleep he noticed the letters above his head.

He was level forty-eight.

A pause, then a shrug. As neat as that was, he still had to get some sleep. He had both work and school tomorrow, so the mysteries of his leveling ability could wait.

* * *

He saw Asia Argento, a new student, along with that pervert Issei sprout black devil wings during lunch time when he took a wrong turn (again).

He promptly turned around and walked away.

At least now he finally knew what the red letters meant.

* * *

Later that day after school let out and he was again stocking the shelves at work, he met Candice again.

His Charm skill also went up.

Ichigo really didn't know why. All they did was talk!

It turned out Candice's favorite color was green and the design on her hat was just something that had been passed down through her family. She had no clue what it meant, and he felt like a huge weight had just been lifted off his shoulders.

Of course on the other side of the questioning, Candice managed to get him to admit to being a student at Kuoh Academy, that he'd originally lived in Karakura Town, and that he had a pet lizard.

Candice really wasn't a bad person, he thought as he smiled at her slightly. He pointedly ignored the Voice screaming in his head about bonds and levels.

She blushed and his Charm skill went up again.

Why.

* * *

On the way home he picked up some supplies to repair his walls. Just in case.

* * *

Ichigo groaned wearily as he opened his apartment door, punching the charging Akagyoushi and sending him careening into the opposite wall, creating even more slashes in the plaster.

Good thing he'd picked up some repair supplies, he thought smugly, eyeing the knocked out basilisk as he tried to figure out whether he should eat something first or fix some of the damage to the walls. He debated with himself for almost five minutes before sighing, closing his door, and digging through the things he'd got at the store so he could get started. Considering that Soul Reapers - at least the ones he knew anyway - were a pretty destructive bunch he'd had to repair his room back in the Kurosaki Clinic more than once.

He honestly wasn't sure if being able to completely repair an almost-destroyed wall in under an hour was something to brag about or not, because he was certainly able to do just that, he thought as he stepped back to take a look at a now-pristine wall. Sure he'd only gotten enough things to fix one wall, but it was progress!

Feeling rather pleased with himself, he made miso soup for himself and Akagyoushi, who had woken up and was looking at him with pleading eyes. He felt compelled to inform the overgrown reptile that puppy-dog eyes didn't work that well when you were a lizard almost as big as two horses. Said two horse-sized reptile looked offended and then they ate their soup.

He still didn't know what he was going to do about that fedora on the counter though...maybe he should donate it to someone? He'd have to think on it a little more and see if another idea presented itself.

Then there was the matter of the stuff in his inventory and the spells tab in the skill section of the menu...Damn it, the game mechanics just kept adding more and more stuff to his to-do list! He would be lucky just to get his homework done on time!

A sudden shiver ran down his spine, jolting him out of his thoughts, and a heavy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Unbidden, his head turned in the direction of the school as he sensed a sizable expulsion of energy, and he groaned as he realized that it was going to be a late night. _Again_. He looked at his empty bowl and then back in the direction of the school, debating with himself on whether or not to check out what was happening, but even as he did that he was sighing and getting up to put his bowl in the sink and running some water in it.

Ichigo knew he couldn't just ignore it, but if something happened a third night to keep him awake _someone_ was going to get hurt. A guy could only go for so long on minimal sleep, he complained inwardly.

Akagyoushi looked sympathetic.

Oh great, lizard pity.

* * *

He got to the school in time to see the end of a dodgeball match between Gremory and Sitri along with their vice-presidents. He kept his distance, hiding behind walls and moving as quietly as possible as he watched them use what could only be magic. It was rather awe-inspiring, if a little weird, but thankfully it served to keep the Occult Research Club and the Student Council - both of whom were in attendance - from noticing that there was an extra person there.

Ichigo stayed a respectable distance away, only catching snatches of conversation due to his hide-and-spy act, but from what he gathered the four women were competing to see which group got to go through a portal and get a 'familiar'. It sounded a lot like a shikigami, only you didn't have to be an onmyouji to get one. And oh look, Issei the pervert was hoping to get a familiar with big boobs. Glad to see becoming a devil hadn't affected his personality, insert sarcasm.

He was fully prepared to walk away, he really was, but evidently he was too close when the portal opened and before he knew it he was once more experiencing the sensation of falling from a great height.

When he found out which kami was responsible for his terrible luck he was _so_ going to kick their asses.

* * *

It just figured that the minute he got his bearings after being dumped out of the portal - and landing in a particularly thorny bush - he would get separated from the unknowing group he had accompanied (at that point he honestly hadn't cared if they knew he was there or not) and then promptly fall down a hill.

Ouch.

He was reduced to wandering around, narrowly avoiding various creatures and suspicious-looking plants. He swore that one flower had growled at him, he really did. He growled right back and the flower made a sound that resembled a whimper. Showed that plant who was boss.

And then there was the weird window that had appeared in front of him after he'd landed.

[Quest accepted: Retrieval type. Read more?]

He blinked.

[Quest details: Find a creature to serve as your familiar and bind it to you. One night time limit. Quest rewards: Familiar, 1000xp]

Yet another aspect of the game mechanics that had become his life, he guessed, and sighed in resignation as he closed the window and started walking again.

Most of the animals and/or monsters were either bizarre, creepy, or some weird mixture of both.

Sadly they were not the strangest things he'd ever seen. They weren't even stranger than Rukia's drawings, so all things considered he was doing pretty well even if he was trapped in another dimension again.

Right after he thought that, he walked straight into a giant wall of blue scales that five minutes later he discovered to be a dragon's foot.

Awesome, but at the same time terrifying. He really didn't know how he was supposed to react to that.

Then the dragon in question noticed he was standing there and everything pretty much went to hell.

* * *

The first blast of fire landed where he'd been mere seconds after he shifted into Devil form and launched himself into the air.

His eyes narrowed when his jump carried him far higher than it should have, and then he noticed the bluish-green gems on his boots (he'd put on the boots he'd gotten from the castle because they were the first shoes he'd grabbed) glowing faintly. He made a mental note to examine that a bit closer if he managed to survive his current situation.

What followed was pretty much a test of speed and maneuverability for him, and Ichigo was just glad that at the moment at least he wasn't failing. Although that was probably due in large part to his new skill, _Resist Fire_ , that had been created when he'd felt the very edges of the heat generated by the dragon's fire breath. It kept gaining levels as he swerved and twisted in mid-air to avoid being incinerated, and he honestly thought that even the Captain-Commander would have been jealous of the blue dragon's flames.

One fireball got a little too close for comfort, and in desperation Ichigo attempted to use his Telekinesis to push it a little further away than it already was. Understandably that didn't work, and he swore as he tried to both pat out the small fire that had started on his sleeve and avoid the follow-up attack. He managed both, but just barely.

That dragon was really starting to piss him off, he decided, a tic forming below one eye as he flew upwards to gain altitude and get a better look at the dragon.

It was a gigantic blue Western dragon, complete with wings that were currently folded across its' back, black horns, and huge black claws. Just its' size alone made his eyes widen. He wasn't kidding when he said it was gigantic, and he supposed it was just luck that all it was doing was swinging its' large head around, tracking his movements and occasionally breathing fire at him.

Using his Repel skill to form a bubble around him helped him avoid some of the heat he couldn't get away from completely, and his Resist Fire skill did the rest.

Ichigo could feel the timer on his transformation counting down, and his eyes darted around as he tried to figure out an escape route even as he dove to avoid a stream of dragon fire. A glance over the dragon's head revealed that he was nowhere near a high enough level to defeat it, so that left running away.

[Tiamat, Level 380]

That was one tough dragon, he thought in respect, and he quickly attempted to circle around so that he was behind the dragon and hopefully in its' - or maybe her? It seemed female now that he had a chance to look at it - blind spot.

His plan was thoroughly derailed when Tiamat turned around faster than something her size should really be able to and breathed another blast of fire at him. He only barely managed to dodge it, and the searing heat reminded him sharply of the one time he'd gotten a sunburn when he was five. That had been unpleasant, to put it mildly, and he scowled at the memory as he glared at the dragon.

The dragon glared back.

What could only be described as a staring contest ensued, and there was no way in hell that he was losing to that dragon!

Ichigo slowly descended towards the ground, never once taking his eyes away from Tiamat's own giant blue ones. He was surrounded by glowing blue light as his transformation ended seconds after his feet touched the ground, but he never so much as squinted.

The contest continued.

Minutes dragged on, but neither one of them gave ground.

Almost thirty minutes later, Tiamat's eyelids started twitching, and Ichigo smirked as his own gaze sharpened. The blue dragon forced her eyes to stay open as she glared at the tiny human in front of her.

Five minutes later, Tiamat sneezed, her eyes closing in reflex as small balls of fire came out of her nose.

"Yes!" Ichigo couldn't resist a small exclamation of victory, grinning savagely as he won the impromptu staring contest.

The dragon sulked, there was no other word to describe it. Foiled by some stupid dust in her nose.

Belatedly, Ichigo told her, "Bless you," because that was what you said when someone sneezed. "That was a good try, by the way. I was about a few seconds from blinking when you sneezed." His eyes had been dry and itchy, and it was only sheer stubbornness that had kept them open long enough for him to win the makeshift contest.

Tiamat perked up a little, and she admitted reluctantly, "You are rather skilled for a human or a devil or whatever it is you are."

And that was true; not many could avoid her attacks even if she was barely paying attention and not really trying to aim. That this human could was worthy of notice, and the least she could do was admit that he'd done a good job at surviving her lazy attacks for as long as he had. She was one of the Five Dragon Kings, the Chaos Karma Dragon, so that was no easy feat.

Ichigo stared. The dragon was talking. Actually talking, in recognizable Japanese, sentences and everything.

...He really didn't know why he was surprised.

He snapped out of it after a minute, remembering to say, "Thanks, you weren't half-bad either." She'd acknowledged his skill, he'd acknowledge hers...not to mention she was pretty much kicking his ass until it turned into a staring contest. On the other hand, he'd been right about her gender - that voice was definitely feminine, so he was going to call her a she until corrected. Meeting Yoruichi had taught him a valuable lesson about judging gender by voice alone.

Tiamat's look turned calculating, saying thoughtfully, "Since you're in this forest, you must be looking for a familiar, even if you are off the usual routes..."

Really, the only reason she deigned to show herself in the Pet Forest was because the place where she'd been resting was so far off the beaten path that no one would have thought to look there. She had just been minding her own business, soaking up the sunlight when the orange-haired human had bumped into her foot and she decided to roast him for the insult. That he had avoided the first blast had been curious but otherwise not noteworthy, especially considering his enchanted boots, dodging the second and third had peaked her interest, and it was when he'd evaded her fourth, fifth, and sixth blasts that she had started to take notice and put some minor effort into hitting him with her attacks.

His movements had been quick and precise as he flew around the streams of fire that sought to incinerate him, and even when he'd been close enough to the flames that the heat should have affected him, turned his skin red at the very least, he had remained unscathed. It was intriguing if nothing else, and certainly impressive for any being, let alone a mere Devil/human. She was curious now, and she had never been one to leave her curiosity unsatisfied.

And the best way to get answers is get close to what was causing the questions.

"Actually, I kind of-" Ichigo tried to correct her, only to be interrupted.

"You are rather strong, not at all like the young Devils who usually come here, so I suppose you'll do." Tiamat said regally, "Very well, I shall consent to be your familiar! Be grateful for I, the Chaos Karma Dragon of the Five Dragon Kings, do not choose to serve just anyone!"

"You have established a bond with _Tiamat_!" The Voice screeched, causing Ichigo to jump, "Your _Tiamat_ bond is now level one!"

 _What_?!

* * *

 _Author's Note: Well now, Ichigo can never do things halfway, can he? ;P Please review and tell me what you think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Author's Note: A double chapter post! This is my present to all you readers, so I hope you enjoy them!_

* * *

In a moment of genius, Ichigo accessed the game menu, noting with relief that when the world grayed out and stopped moving, so did Tiamat.

Now that he had a moment to think, he remembered the quest thing that had appeared earlier, and he groaned as he realized that there was really no way that he was leaving the dimension without the blue dragon as a familiar. How was he supposed to make her a familiar though? Obviously it was something Devils knew how to do, so some type of magic maybe? Did he even have that?

The first thing he checked was the spell tab in his skills page. When he saw the staggering number of spells he apparently had, his eyebrow twitched. There was no way he'd be able to look at each and every one to see if it was the spell he needed...oh look, a search bar. Awesome.

He entered the word 'familiar', and a second later only two spells were left on the page. They were called _Summon Familiar_ and _Bind Familiar_ , the second spell likely being the one he needed to officially make Tiamat his familiar. Luckily after he clicked on _Bind Familiar_ he was given the option of creating a shortcut to the spell, which apparently meant that to use it all he had to do was say the name of the spell.

Sweet.

He did the same thing with _Summon Familiar_ , just in case.

Ichigo exited the game menu and as the world regained its color, he looked up at Tiamat and told her bluntly, "I look forward to working with you," and then he took a breath, raising one hand to point at Tiamat as he intoned, " _Bind Familiar_!"

A bright blue magic circle appeared in front of his hand, and the magic didn't even take a minute before it took effect. He practically felt something _click_ into place as the circle disappeared and the glow of the magic faded.

[Quest complete] The window appeared in front of him, and he didn't even flinch. He was too used to weird pop-ups to be startled by one now. [Gain _Familiar - Tiamat_ , 1000xp. Kurosaki Ichigo has gained a level.] Huh, he must have been pretty close to leveling up earlier.

The second window was something he'd only seen once before.

[Tiamat has permanently joined your party as an active-combat type. You can now request to fight alongside Tiamat for an indefinite period of time.]

Cool.

Ichigo looked up at Tiamat. "You wouldn't know how to get back to the Human World, would you?"

It turned out she did.

He thanked her profusely even as he braced himself for the uncomfortable feeling of portal-travel.

The last thing he heard was a warning not to summon her for minor things, as she was a busy dragon.

Somehow he didn't think that that would be a problem.

* * *

The portal dropped him outside Kuoh Academy.

Which was cool, if a bit painful.

After he managed to stand back up he went straight home, and he must have looked pretty bad because Akagyoushi paused mid-ambush and then quietly retreated to the guestroom.

His futon had never felt more comfortable.

* * *

When Ichigo woke up the next morning and shuffled into the bathroom to get ready for school, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stared.

...At least the bags under his eyes weren't too bad. That was something to be thankful for.

Breakfast consisted of instant noodles that he shared with Akagyoushi, who had apparently stayed the night.

Their bond went up a level.

He wasn't really surprised, but _damn_ the Voice was annoying.

* * *

He called his sisters that day, just to let them know that he was still alive and relatively fine. This turned into an hour-long conversation with Yuzu telling him to make sure he had right and didn't just heat up instant noodles all the time (how'd she know?). Karin chimed in to ask about the sports clubs at Kuoh, which he really couldn't answer, but he did confess that he'd gotten a part-time job and a pet lizard that acted like Goat Face.

The girls were appropriately sympathetic.

Of course then Karin made a crack about him getting a girlfriend and got Yuzu started on the subject.

He silently vowed to send them both jewelry or make-up in retaliation (everyone opened their mail at the same time, so once Goat Face saw what he'd sent he wouldn't let Karin throw it away).

* * *

The next time Ichigo saw Issei do something abnormal (in this case transform his right arm into a crimson gauntlet), he promptly dragged the pervert someplace secluded to demand answers.

He consciously used his Intimidation skill, and amidst the frantic babbling and half-excuses, Issei gave him the full story.

Not a lot he didn't already know (the Three Factions stuff wasn't new to him, though the Rating Games were), but he was glad that Yuuma/Raynare (her real name apparently) was dead and the pervert had gotten closure. The news about the Sacred Gears and the Evil Pieces was rather surprising, mostly because he hadn't gotten that far in his reading yet.

Apparently Issei was a Pawn, alternatively the weakest and the strongest Piece due to its power of Promotion i.e. the ability to take on the traits and powers of other pieces when in enemy territory. The pervert's Sacred Gear was called Boosted Gear, one of thirteen Longinus', weapons capable of killing even a god, and it could boost/double Issei's power every ten seconds.

Lucky bastard.

It turned out Gremory Rias and Shitori Sona aka Sitri Sona were both High-Class Devils, and their peerages were the Occult Research Club and the Student Council, respectively. He couldn't say he was surprised.

The explanation finished about the time the lunch period ended so he let the pervert go, much to Hyoudou's immense relief. Ichigo graciously pretended not to notice the tears of relief shining in Issei's eyes before he ran away. Poor pervert didn't really know what had hit him, which was why he'd performed his impromptu interrogation that way; less chance for Issei to dodge his questions.

([ _Intelligence_ has gained a point!]

[Passive skill: _Strategic Planning_ has been created!])

...He didn't know if he was offended by that or not.

* * *

Three days later Ichigo got the chance to find out what the Devil form he'd acquired in that vault was.

He'd just been minding his own business, playing around with some of the new powers of his Devil form, mostly leveling up his Telepathy by using it on various squirrels. It also turned out his encounter with Tiamat had given him Pyrokinesis, though he was hesitant to try that out in the middle of a forest. So reading the minds of small tree-dwelling rodents it was.

Once he got tired of hearing high-pitched, squeaky voices chanting about nuts in his head, he ceased his Telepathy, which now up to whopping level three. His Devil transformation also timed out, and he decided to seize the chance for a break and eat some of the riceballs he'd packed for a snack.

He was just finishing off the last of them when he had to abruptly grab his bag and leap forward, turning the move into a roll in order to avoid the fireball impacting right where he'd been sitting. The poor log he'd been using as a chair was reduced to cinders.

The one responsible soon came into view, and he groaned quietly as he looked at the Stray Devil in front of him, for what else could it be? No other Devils he'd seen looked deformed like that.

For the most part the Devil's torso and legs were humanoid, save for the scales covering its' feet, as were the arms down to his - the form was male - hands and his head except for the hair and ears. The Stray Devil's hands were long, blade-like red claws that flickered with bright orange flames, and his hair was a writhing mane of pure fire, his ears pointed like an elf's. A pair of thick horns jutted from the Devil's forehead, and the plain t-shirt and slacks he was wearing were threadbare.

The Stray Devil flicked his hands, sending tongues of flame slithering towards where Ichigo was crouching, and the orange-haired teen promptly jumped straight up, profoundly thankful that he was wearing the enchanted boots. As near as he could figure the boots merely increased his jumping ability by a lot, which was definitely handy in a situation like this.

His only problem was that his Fallen Angel and Devil forms were still recharging, or at least he thought so, so he was basically a human against a Stray Devil.

Yeah, he was kind of doubtful about his chances of winning, at least not without an insane amount of luck.

Ichigo spent the next few minutes dodging the fire attacks of the Stray Devil as well as being profoundly grateful that his Resist Fire ability had carried over, as he didn't quite manage to avoid all of the fire-whips. His pants now sported several scorch marks to match the ones on the surrounding grass and trees, though the skin underneath was unharmed.

This seemed to frustrate the attacking Stray, and he made a sound like a cross between a trumpet and a screech, venting his anger as he lashed out with glowing whips of controlled fire. His blade-like claws sliced through the air, sending scythes of flame towards Ichigo and forcing the former Substitute Soul Reaper to run almost straight up a tree before performing a backflip off the trunk.

Ichigo put the enchanted boots to good use, jumping around like a demented rabbit as he kicked off the ground and rebounded off trees. When he got close enough during a round of dodging he seized the opportunity to kick the damn Stray in the face, using him as a spring-board to avoid yet another lash of fire. His Resist Fire skill might be gaining levels like crazy, but those whips still stung like hell when they connected!

A minute later the Stray gave up on ranged attacks and charged Ichigo head-on, which made dodging that much harder because the fire-controlling Devil was _fast_.

The swings of the Stray's claws left trails of shimmering heat behind them and it was pretty much as test of flexibility for Ichigo to avoid being sliced in two.

While Ichigo dodged, trying to put some distance between the two of them, he mentally cataloged each move and anything that looked like it could be a weakness. The Stray apparently had to swing his entire arm to use the fire blades as projectiles and used his entire body as a pivot to swing them with more force, Ichigo couldn't take advantage of that unless his speed increased. One option down, he thought as he ducked another swing and felt a swathe of heat pass over his head.

Another option might be spraying his opponent with water, but as there wasn't a fire-hydrant in sight as he marked yet another idea off the increasingly short list as he backflipped away from a downward slice of the Stray's claws.

Surprisingly the Stray snarled, his eyes burning with rage as he barked out, "Stay still so I can kill you! I, the great Leorz, the Eruption Bishop, will not be defeated by a mere human!" His flaming hair burned higher in his anger and changed to a deep red color.

That brought Ichigo up short for a moment, as he hadn't expected the Stray to be able to talk. The hesitation almost cost him as the Stray took advantage of his pause to swipe at him again, but his magic boots saved him. He was up and over the Devil's head before the Stray really registered his move, and he seized the moment to kick the bastard in the back and send him tumbling forward.

Teach the jerk to take a cheap shot at him.

His training spot was taking a lot of damage, and some of the blackened streaks on the ground were starting to smolder rather alarmingly, and Ichigo was just pissed off enough that what he did next seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

He activated his untried Devil form, and the characteristic flash of blue filled his vision, though for some reason it seemed... _icy_.

When the blue light cleared away Ichigo noticed several things; the first being that he was taller than he had been a minute ago, and the second was that the clearing had completely frozen over. Ice and snow covered the ground and the trees and it was like he'd teleported into a winter wonderland.

The Stray - Leorz - was gaping at him, and just to be a jerk Ichigo announced, " _Devil Form - Duke Valefor_." Huh, his voice had changed too - it was a lot smoother and a bit deeper.

Deciding to take the time to experiment, Ichigo stretched out one hand (and yup, this definitely wasn't his body, he'd have to find a mirror if he survived this) and concentrated. A bolt of ice flew out of his hand, though sadly his aim was a bit off and it only hit Leorz' shoulder. But hey, the Stray's whole arm promptly froze solid, so that's something!

It turned out his Duke Valefor form could control ice and snow.

Awesome.

A savage smirk spread across his lips, and his eyes gleamed as he stared at the now very nervous Stray. Using both hands he began hurling bolts of ice at Leorz, the other Devil frantically diving out of the way of the attacks. Wherever his missed shots hit the ground, a large, sharp flower of ice bloomed. He switched it up as he tried to improve his aim with the ice bolts - changing from concentrated ice magic to widespread blasts of frost and back again.

His ability to hit his target began to gradually improve, the fire-controlling Stray being nicked by the ice magic being thrown at him, and Ichigo was intrigued to see that where the Stray was hit the skin turned blue, almost black. It was like watching accelerated frostbite...Neat.

Getting a bit bored with the standard icebolts and frostblasts, he began conjuring frozen spears in the air around him, testing the limits of what he could do with this new form. A rain of razor sharp icicles flew towards Leorz, the Stray panicking and frantically sending blast after blast of fire towards the oncoming storm. It had no effect, and one of the icicles speared the Devil through the thigh, drawing a pained howl from the flaming Devil.

That was when Ichigo brought his hands up until they were level with his chest, facing inward and towards the other, leaving plenty of space between them. He set about creating a whirlwind of small, sharp shards of ice between his two hands, and when he judged it big enough he sent it flying towards the bleeding, snarling Leorz. It hit the Stray in the side when he managed a limping lunge in an attempt to avoid it, and the impacted side was promptly torn almost completely to shreds by the spinning ice shards that mimicked razor blades.

By now the snow around Leorz was dyed a deep red from the Stray's blood and Ichigo didn't want to risk this transformation's time running out before he won. It was time to get down to business, he could experiment with attacks later.

Four minutes later, Leorz' hair was completely gone, his hands were frozen into blocks of ice, his fangs were chattering, and the Stray generally looked like he had a terrible case of frostbite. Ichigo decided to put the poor bastard out his misery and stretched out his hand again, aiming his palm towards the partially-frozen Stray. An icicle spear through the chest finished him off.

[Active skill: _Devil Form - Duke Valefor_ has gained a level!]

The former Substitute Soul Reaper wandered over to where he had tossed his bag, having to dig through a snowdrift before he could find it, but as he shouldered it something occurred to him. He immediately accessed the game menu and went to his skills, tracking down his Valefor form and checking it out. It turned out there was a lot of information on his newest form's powers and abilities, and the more he read the more impressed Ichigo was. Damn, this guy had been pretty fucking strong. And his skills were nothing to sneeze at either.

A lot of the skills were grayed out though, showing that he wasn't a high enough level to use them. He would have to find time to work on that - maybe he should look into writing up a training schedule?

When he was done reading, he exited the game menu and was about to set off back to town when another idea came to him. This time he conjured up a mirror made out of ice and took a good long look at himself.

And then promptly gaped like an idiot, which frankly looked weird on his current face.

Duke Valefor, as it turned out, was 6"8 tall, and could only be described as absolutely gorgeous. Pure white hair that just barely brushed the collar of his coat framed his face, which was pale and regal. White eyebrows were positioned perfectly above a pair of icy blue eyes, and his lips were slightly pale, with the bottom one being a bit fuller than the top one. His body was slim but muscular, though his current outfit concealed the muscles he could feel he had admirably. Four pairs of pitch black Devil wings were visible behind him. His clothes had changed along with his form, and he was now wearing a white coat trimmed in pale blue and held closed across his chest with silver clasps, the garment going down to just passed his knees. The shirt beneath that was white, from what he could tell, and his trousers were ice blue with white detailing along the seams on the outside of his legs. He was wearing knee-high white leather boots with pale blue patterning around the tops and on the heels, and the silvers clasps on them matched the ones on his coat.

Through a great effort of will, Ichigo managed to close his mouth, and he spent a moment admiring his current appearance.

A minute later his transformation wore off.

There was a pause, and then a loud yelp echoed through the frozen clearing, " _Jeez_ that's cold!"

[Passive skill: _Resist Cold_ has been created!]

Ichigo made it back to his apartment in record time.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Not sure how I did on the fight scene, so let me know if you noticed any errors! I hope you all enjoyed these two longer-than-usual chapters! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


	15. Chapter 15

_Author's Note: Hey all, as I think there might be something wrong with my review notifications, I apologize if you signed a review and didn't get a response. Just know that I tried._

* * *

The king of perverts and the Occult Research Club weren't at school the next day.

After some thought, the former Substitute Soul Reaper concluded that it must have something to do with the Devil side of things.

Ichigo marveled at the fact that people were running off to deal with some sort of crisis and he wasn't one of them. It was a novel feeling to have to it be not because he was powerless but because it didn't have anything to do with him. He took a moment to enjoy the sensation, and then he took out some scratch paper and began making a rough draft for his training schedule.

The rest of school went smoothly and he took several recently discovered shortcuts to make it home earlier than usual.

Akagyoushi was certainly surprised, and it took the lizard a few seconds to recover enough to launch his customary attack. He was promptly knocked out via the application of an uppercut to the jaw. Ichigo then changed into his work clothes, ate a sandwich he'd prepared and stuck in the refrigerator that morning, and then headed out for his shift at the store.

Halfway there, however, he paused when twenty pop-ups appeared and informed him that his Sense Danger skill was picking up something. Yeah, tell him something he didn't know - he could practically feel the glare from whoever was following him burning a hole in his back. Discreetly looking around for the one triggering his danger-sense, he wasn't surprised that he didn't see anyone before he continued walking. Whoever it was obviously knew what they were doing when it came to staying out of sight.

([Passive skill: _Sense Hidden Presence_ has been created!]

[Passive skill: _Sense Hidden Presence_ has gained a level!])

Cool. Still didn't help him figure out who was following him, but still cool.

He shrugged as he reached the store entrance and walked in to start work.

* * *

Candice showed up halfway through his shift and somehow Ichigo wasn't surprised in the least. He didn't want to think too deeply about why he wasn't, so instead he forced himself to smile slightly when she made an appearance.

She was wearing her customary Quincy-themed hat, a halter-top, a skirt that ended just passed her knees, and flats, he saw, and more than a few guys browsing in the store ran into each other when she walked in. He honestly couldn't blame them, even if some of the things they knocked over would be a pain to clean up.

The green-haired woman seemed a bit flustered as she approached him, and mumbled something under her breath that he had to strain his ears to hear, then ask her to repeat herself, just because he couldn't believe what he'd heard.

"I said," Candice spoke more clearly, though her face was a dark shade of pink, "Would you like to go out with me after your shift? I know a place that serves some really good tea..."

Effectively put in the spotlight and feeling the glares of every single male in the store - even the cashier! - Ichigo could only say, "Sure. My shift ends in a couple of hours." and watch as Candice bounced in place happily, which was rather distracting.

(Ichigo politely pretended not to notice the death-glares he was now receiving and instead focused on trying to figure out what the hell you even did on a date. He was forced to admit to himself that he had no clue as Candice left the store.)

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

Oh look, the Voice had returned.

* * *

The rest of his workday passed in a bit of a daze for the orange-haired teen, though he clearly remembered the ribbing he'd gotten from the cashier about what color the kids' hair would be if he got together with Candice.

He tried to ignore the way his co-worker's voice had sounded distinctly jealous during said ribbing. It wasn't his business and he had bigger things to worry about.

He clocked out and exited the store after his shift, finding Candice waiting for him. He had to take a moment to absorb that (and wonder how long she'd been waiting), before the woman grabbed his wrist and proceeded to drag him down the street, presumably to the place she'd been talking about earlier.

That turned out to be correct, and to his surprise Ichigo actually recognized the cafe that Candice dragged him to - he'd walked passed it about five times when he'd first come to city. He hadn't gone inside, though that was about to be remedied if the way his 'date' was headed towards the doors was in indication.

Five minutes later they sitting at a table next to the window, sipping their tea (which _was_ pretty good, he wouldn't lie) and making idle chit-chat - which felt rather awkward on Ichigo's part. He'd never been good at small talk, ask anyone he knew and they'd tell you that, but he made the effort since the woman across from him seemed so happy to be there. Maybe she'd just wanted someone to come to the cafe with her? Sitting by yourself could get pretty boring.

No one ever said emotional stuff was Ichigo's strong suit...

The orange-haired teen had just chuckled at the end of a hilarious story about someone Candice knew when an inexplicable shiver ran down his spine. His gaze sharpened, his good mood plummeting as two pop-ups appeared, one for his Sense Danger skill and one for his Sense Hidden Presence skill. Apparently his new stalker had returned, but once again he couldn't pinpoint where they were hiding. A few tense moments later, during which he covered up the frown on his face by finishing off the last of his tea, he came to the conclusion that whoever was watching him wasn't planning on making a move right then, which was good considering the amount of bystanders who could get caught in the crossfire.

Forcefully turning his attention back to Candice, Ichigo forced himself to smile at his date (he still couldn't quite get his head around that fact that he, of all people, was on a date with an attractive woman) and try to keep the conversation going, "So, tell me more about yourself?"

That was apparently all the invitation Candice needed, and she smiled brilliantly as she proceeded to basically tell him her life story. By the time she was done his head was reeling with information.

Candice Catnipp had been born in Germany and would be twenty-two next month, she was great at sewing and marksmanship, her hair was naturally green, and she was in Japan to study how they made textiles and certain garments. She liked cats, was okay with dogs, and hated bats with a fiery passion. He couldn't really blame her there, as whenever he thought of bats he always remembered Ulquiorra and shuddered. She had practiced her Japanese extensively before arriving, but sometimes her accent thickened, usually when she was excited about something.

Her new favorite food was daifuku*, the first thing she'd eaten after landing in Japan, and she liked stormy weather, especially lightning storms. She also enjoyed swimming and hang-gliding (an odd combination, but who was he to judge?), and she had recently begun learning how to bake. He had only made an appreciative noise when he'd heard that tidbit, but somehow it had evolved into her promising to bring him something to try the next time she made something.

Ichigo had no clue how it had happened, and he was sitting there the whole time!

Releasing a quiet sigh, he made an effort to smile as he began talking once she was through. He made sure to keep the information to a bare minimum, but Candice had shared so much information about herself that he felt compelled to at least try to return the favor. Mostly he talked about how he'd lived in Karakura, the fights he'd got into because of his hair color, when his birthday was, and about his sisters. The less he said about his classmates the better, as he really didn't want to end the outing on a sour note.

Before he knew it, they were talking like old friends, laughing and joking - though his laughs were more like chuckles - as they drank cup after cup of tea and finally broke down and ordered some sandwiches to go with it. They were both getting a little hungry by then, as the date had been going on for at least a few hours. He didn't know for sure since he was having too much of a good time to bother checking his watch.

If only his stalker would stop glaring holes in his back, the day would be pretty close to perfect.

The sun was starting to go down by the time they left the cafe (Candice paying the bill despite his protesting, and it took a heated, whispered argument before he reluctantly backed down) and Ichigo volunteered to walk Candice back to the hotel she was staying at. She had said she was looking for an apartment to rent since she planned to stay in Japan awhile, but she hadn't found one yet and so was staying at a decent hotel.

They were cutting through a deserted park and Ichigo had just turned his head towards Candice to say something when his Sense Danger skill began going crazy and he instinctively grabbed the green-haired woman and jumped back. He moved just in time, as three glowing spears impaled the ground where they had been standing a few seconds later.

Ichigo growled under his breath as Candice gasped in shock, and with a sinking that he recognized those spears, he looked up in the direction they came from.

[Kalawarner, Level 38]

Yup, that was definitely Kalawarner, and she had certainly leveled up. The Fallen Angel looked furious and hovered several feet above the ground as she formed another spear in her hands. "Die, you bastard!" She shrieked, hurling spears as fast as she could make them towards her target.

"Ichigo, what is going on?!" Candice raised her voice to be heard over the Fallen Angel's screams of rage as Ichigo pulled his friend(?) out of the way of the spears while dodging them himself.

"I don't know! I fought her once, but it wasn't like she was hurt that bad!" He responded, pulling them both behind a tree. Candice looked confused, which he kind of expected since he didn't think she regularly got attacked by spear-wielding women with black wings, but she was also starting to frown. Her green eyes were narrowed and she was glaring in their attacker's general direction - and were those _sparks_ coming from her clenched fists?

He didn't have time to examine that sight too closely, instead being forced to shield Candice as he pulled them both away from their current cover just as the trunk was skewered by a light spear. Behind another tree they went, and Ichigo told Candice, voice apologetic, "I didn't mean for you to get caught up in this, Candice. If you wait here, I'll finish this quickly and-" he was cut off when the green-haired woman pulled out of his arms and marched out into the open, glaring venomously at Kalawarner.

[Candice Catnipp, Level 36]

Wait, how the hell had he never noticed Candice's level before? He quickly answered his own question; because she had introduced herself after they met, and he spent so much time talking to her when she showed up that it completely slipped his mind.

Ichigo was further surprised when Candice hissed, "You _bitch_ , how dare you interrupt my date with Ichigo! You're gonna pay for that!" Holding her right hand out to the side, the green-haired woman chanted, " _Spirit of lightning, heed my call and come forth to strike down my foe!_ "

From out of the clear sky, a single bolt of lightning descended, striking Candice's outstretched hand and leaving it wreathed in crackling green electricity up to her elbow. Her fingers curled like claws, the busty German woman peeled her lips back from her teeth in a snarl before swinging her hand out towards the stunned Fallen Angel, releasing the lightning towards her in a lashing bolt.

Kalawarner was too surprised by a _human_ calling down _lightning_ to move out of the way in time, and her light spear didn't make much of a shield when she was struck by a million volts of electricity. She screamed in shock and pain, dropping to the ground as her wings jerked and seized, some of her feathers smoldering along with her clothes - which had been pretty much destroyed by the lightning strike, he noticed with a faint blush.

She had some pretty damn nasty burns though, and Candice preened as she looked at her handiwork. She was smiling brightly as she turned back to Ichigo and said happily, "Now that the trash is taken care of, let's get going. It's getting late and walking through parks after dark is dangerous."

Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Ichigo's arm and proceeded to tow him the rest of the way through the park even as Ichigo wondered what the hell that had been about. He didn't even bother asking how Candice had summoned lightning; he'd honestly seen weirder things, and no way was someone distantly related to the Quincy and therefore Ishida Uryu going to be completely normal.

(He staunchly ignored the saying about glass houses and stones that came to mind right after he thought that.)

No, he was more concerned with why Kalawarner had showed up. He was reasonably sure that she was the one who'd been following him all day though, so that was one mystery solved.

* * *

For lack of a better idea, after delivering Candice to her hotel room Ichigo just turned around and headed home, making sure to avoid the park where the fight - if it could even be called that - had taken place.

He also savored the knowledge that he hadn't had to be the one to take down the one attacking him. It seemed that that day was a day of new experiences, but he was currently hoping that there wouldn't be any more surprises until he got some sleep. Akagyoushi's daily ambush didn't count as a surprise, so he just punched out the overgrown lizard and went to get ready for bed.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Well there you go, Ichigo is oblivious, Candice made a move, and Kalawarner has returned! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always constructive criticism is welcome! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Author's Note: I rushed to finish this for Valentine's Day, so I hope it lives up to expectations!_

* * *

When he left school the next day, he just knew that something was about to go wrong. Why? Because he got a call on his cell phone from work saying that his shift was cancelled and he had the rest of the day free. He had a _very_ bad feeling, and he just knew that it was going to get worse before it got better. Still, he was going to take advantage of the extra time while he could.

A quick stop at his apartment to change and grab some snacks later (along with a scuffle with the damned lizard, who was now _level 53_ , what the fuck?!), he was off towards his training spot. Thankfully it was far enough away from the town that he could experiment with a few ideas, and his Valefor form would make sure that he didn't burn the forest down...he hoped. He took a moment to rap his knuckles against a tree, just in case that old superstition actually worked.

So yeah, save the Valefor training for last, he decided, reaching the clearing he'd claimed for training and raising an eyebrow when he saw the large puddles and only-slightly-smaller ice chunks. Wow, it really took this long for the ice to start melting? That was something he would have to watch out for, even if this meant he was less likely to set something on fire.

Ichigo was getting better at looking on the bright side. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but he blamed the fact that no one had tried to seriously kill him yet...and he just jinxed himself, great.

Sighing and going over to one of the drier spots in the clearing, he set his bag down and began stretching, going through his moves to warm up. Who knew how long he had until that jinx took effect, so he might as well get as much training done as he could. This time, however, he decided to switch things up, sitting cross-legged on the ground as he took a classic meditating pose, breathing deeply as he closed his eyes in concentration.

Several years ago, during a quiet moment after he'd gotten his Soul Reaper powers, Rukia had mentioned that meditation was one of the first things a Soul Reaper learned.

It apparently allowed a Soul Reaper to go into their Inner World, not that Ichigo would know anything about that, seeing as Zangetsu had always pulled him into his whenever he wanted to. The last time they'd talked had been in the Dangai Precipice World while he'd trained to learn the Final Getsuga Tensho, and the last time he'd tried to go into his Inner World had been while his powers were still fading.

The silence as the buildings soundlessly crumbled into dust, the formerly pristine skyscrapers cracked and broken, even the one he'd stood upon, had been too much and he'd quickly left. He hadn't tried again. With his new powers though, possibilities and theories were whirling around in his head.

Calming his breathing, inhaling and exhaling in a slow rhythm, he slowly relaxed, muscles losing their tension as he turned his focus inward. His breath and heartbeat evened out, his awareness of his surroundings faded, the sounds of nature around him becoming muted as he sank into the darkness of his consciousness. All around him was blackness and silence as he sought out his Inner World, even as he didn't know which way was up or down. He just seemed to float in the center of the darkness...wait, there! Through the blackness, there were tiny pinpricks of light, four of them to be exact.

One was glowing a soft blue, barely visible, and the next was a deep red color that seemed to blaze against the shadows around it. The last was a reddish-gold, brighter than the blue but softer than the red light. The fourth...he couldn't make out what color it was, even as he reached his awareness towards the lights, the glow of them receding from him as he chased them. Frustration built, but Ichigo kept pursuing the lights, sure that if he caught one he would get to his Inner World...or maybe he hadn't gone deep enough into the blackness? That thought sent a shiver of apprehension through him, but he steeled himself and prepared to sink deeper...

 _THWACK!_

Ichigo yelped in pain, his concentration shattered as his eyes shot open and he quickly found the cause of the sudden pain in the back of his head: a rock the size of an acorn. Loud chattering gave away the culprit, and he turned his head and glared at the group of ten squirrels in one of the trees behind him, his eyebrow twitching angrily.

([Active skill: _Meditation_ has been created!]

[Active skill: _Meditation_ has gained a level!])

Well, at least his efforts hadn't gone to waste, but now he was pretty annoyed that he would have to start over again. With a bright flash of blue light he switched to his Devil form and, glaring at the squirrels, used a small bit of Telekinesis to push the rodents off their perches and into another tree further back. Aside from some alarmed chattering and scrambling for a hold on the new tree's branches, the annoying little things were okay, so with a small huff he sat back down and closed his eyes, attempting to get back the state of calm he needed for meditation.

As the sounds of the forest around him faded and again became indistinct, he felt himself sink down...down passed his consciousness...down to the point where he'd seen the lights the first time...and then even further downwards...towards a softly glowing light 'beneath' him...

 _THUNK!_

Once again jolted out of his meditative state by a sharp pain in his head, his eyes snapped open and he scowled, growling under his breath as he batted away the window telling him his newest skill had leveled up. His attention was focused on the rodents chittering in a way distinctly laugh-like in a nearby tree.

Sending the annoying rodents flying with another - slightly harder - shove of Telekinesis, he took a deep, calming breath before closing his eyes again.

He didn't even get to the four smaller lights before the rock hit him that time.

The cycle of Ichigo trying to meditate and the squirrels throwing rocks at him repeated seven more times, and by the time his newest skill had become level four he was at the end of his rope of patience. The eighth rock was the last straw, and he snarled as he snapped open his eyes once again, glaring venomously at the squirrels laughing victoriously at him. Those squirrels were going to be filler for dango when he was done with them, he mentally swore, and bared his teeth in a parody of a grin. Grabbing the tree-dwelling rodents with his Telekinesis was easy, and levitating them over to where he was while they squeaked and chattered in alarm was even easier. Holding them in a line at around chest height, there was a glint in his eyes that would have looked right at home in Urahara's.

The squirrels were mostly level one, but three of them were level two and slightly bigger than the others. The rodents squirmed and frantically scrambled at empty air with their paws, not looking nearly so confident in the face of the now-Devil's glare as they had been a minute earlier.

Using his Telepathy on the bigger squirrels, his eyebrow twitch returned with a vengeance as the rodents called him 'Cherryhead' and basically repeated 'get away' over and over again along with promises of payback. Well, now he didn't feel guilty about what he was planning to try out on his new 'volunteers'. Yup, that look in his eyes definitely looked like it belonged more in Urahara's than it did in Ichigo's...

* * *

Ichigo's biggest weakness had always been control, when it came down to it.

He had always been hopeless at reining in his spiritual energy, unable to perform kido* due to the control it required as he'd discovered the few times he'd gotten curious and tried some of the spells he'd seen Rukia use. They had blown up in his face in a pretty spectacular manner, burning his hands slightly and covering his face in soot no matter what spell he used, but now he had the opportunity to learn the control he'd previously been lacking.

Progress had been made on controlling the amount of power that he used in his light spears, so now he was going to figure out how to do the same thing in his Devil form. And to do that he needed something to test his control on, hence the captured squirrels. Sure he wasn't actually going to hurt them, but he considered it sufficient payback to terrify the rodents into thinking he was. Those rocks had _hurt_ , damn it!

Rubbing his hands together, an evil chuckle escaping him as he approached the first squirrel, reaching out and resting one finger against the critter's furry side.

Ichigo carefully drew on his power, separating the smallest piece possible from the whole of it, the spiritual equivalent of half the size of the tip of a needle. It didn't so much trickle down his finger into the squirrel as it slowly floated like a speck of dust caught on a breeze, slowly and with many loop-de-loops on the way, but it eventually made it into the rodent.

At first nothing happened, except for the animal's struggles to get away from him increasing, its heart beating so fast that he could feel it beneath the pad of his finger. He frowned, wondering if the small amount of energy he'd channeled into the squirrel was upping its levels of adrenaline or if it was a natural fear response. He was leaning towards the latter, about to conclude that his energy hadn't done anything when the animal began squeaking rapidly, shaking so quickly that it looked like it was vibrating.

[Active skill: _Empower_ has been created!]

A second later, and the squirrel started swelling rapidly, ballooning outwards and growing faster than Ichigo would have thought possible. Rapid cracking noises filled the clearing as bones shifted and changed, squeaks turning into snarls as the cracking became crunching until finally, the noise stopped. Considering the result of the transformation, however, that wasn't particularly reassuring...

The formerly small mammal was the size of a large dog within a minute, its fur now a bristly, shaggy coat. All four paws now sporting needle-sharp claws and its teeth had changed into fangs that would give a wolf's a run for its money. Its eyes were a bright amber color that seemed to glow almost beautifully when the light hit them. The look in those eyes, on the other hand, was pretty much the opposite of beautiful.

Ichigo blinked, then prudently stepped back as a bit of the mutated squirrel's drool hit the ground and _sizzled_. A quick glance about the beast's head informed him that the change was more than just cosmetic.

[Demon Squirrel, Level 17]

He was a bit uncertain about whether to try it with the other squirrels or not, seeing the change that had happened to the first one...but then sighed and decided what the hell, in for a penny, in for a pound.

With the second one he was a bit more cautious, however, starting with the same amount of power as last time and then cutting it in half before sending the reduced amount into the squirrel. It took even longer than the first time to take effect, almost three minutes in fact, but just as he was starting to relax the floating squirrel stiffened. It looked like a statue, beady eyes widened in surprise and tail stiffened, and then it started growing. Unlike the bloating growth of the first squirrel, the second was more like the animal turned into wax and reshaped itself.

The result was a beast half the size of the first demon squirrel - which was still drooling and now had a blackened patch of ground beneath it - and arguably a less intimidating one...if you weren't paying attention to the fur on the tail, which had stiffened and hardened into spikes not unlike a porcupine's quills. Thankfully the tail and size were the only things that seemed to have changed (a quick glance revealed that the animal's level had shot up to eleven).

Morbid curiosity compelled him to keep trying, each time trying to lower the amount of energy he was channeling into the animals, but the results were still... _mixed_ , to put it politely.

Six of the ten squirrels were like the second attempt, only growing a little bigger and having one part of their bodies change (most often the tail, but that one squirrel with the piranha teeth made him a bit wary). The levels increased by ten on those rodents, but the other ones, the level two and three squirrels, those made him think seriously about just running away screaming. It would probably increase his life expectancy.

...Then again, since when had he paid attention to that?

The level two squirrels remaining shot up to the same size as the first one, though one of them now had spikes growing out of its back and the other was _breathing fire, what the fuck?_ That warranted staring, which he did, watching as embers spilled out of the demon squirrel's mouth and sizzled on the ground, much like the acid saliva from the first animal. There was clearly no rhyme or reason to how the squirrels changed when he used Empower, and he was honestly kind of hesitant to use it on the two level three squirrels.

Ichigo had been using the least amount of energy he could on all of them after the first one, he swore, but the last level two squirrels had shot up twenty levels. His brain hurt trying to figure out the math, so he just didn't even bother. It was clearly random.

Cautiously paring down his energy to the smallest bit he could, and then cutting that in half, he sent the tiny speck of energy into the second to last squirrel. The result was...actually sort of expected, especially when the animal puffed up, ballooning much like the first one and growing claws, fangs, porcupine-like quills on its back, and a whip-like tail. It was a bit bigger than the first one, actually, and he did not think the way it was hissing was a good thing. He hadn't even known that squirrels could hiss!

The last one he gave his best effort, cutting down the sent energy to almost nothing, something smaller than the particles of energy that infuse the air in Hueco Mundo, but he quickly saw that it didn't help in the slightest. It was more than double the size of the first one, and he was having to actively concentrate on his Telekinesis in order to hold all of the animals now, especially since the huge one started trying to thrash around as soon as it was done transforming.

[Demon Squirrel Boss, Level 31]

Along with being huge, his final try could shoot lasers out of its eyes - all six of them. He wished he was joking. On a related note, his Empower level had gone up to three.

Unfortunately, that's when all hell broke loose, the first squirrel breaking free of his hold while he was distracted, setting off a chain reaction.

The mutated mammals made a break for it, scattering and leaving Ichigo standing there and wondering what the fuck he'd gotten himself into.

His Devil form timed out a minute later, and he groaned.

How the hell was he supposed to round up those squirrels now?

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, I had to make sure I was writing Ichigo instead of Urahara, LOL. As always, constructive criticism is welcome! And by popular request, here is an updated list of Ichigo's skills so far. If I missed anything, please let me know!_

 _Ichigo Kurosaki: Level 49_

 _Passive Skills:_

 _Resist Poison: Level 28_

 _Resist Paralysis: Level 31_

 _Resist Petrification: Level 20_

 _Resist Fire: Level 16_

 _Charm: Level 7_

 _Resist Compulsion: Level 19_

 _Strategic Planning: Level 1_

 _Alertness: Level 34_

 _Resist Light: Level 2_

 _Resist Cold: Level 1_

 _Devour: Level 26_

 _Sense Hidden Presence: Level 12_

 _Sense Danger: Level 20_

 _Written Language: MAX_

 _Spear Mastery: Level 1_

 _Counterattack: Level 1_

 _Active Skills:_

 _Close Combat: Level 28_

 _Meditation: Level 4_

 _Empower: Level 3_

 _Pyrokinesis: Level 1_

 _Intimidation: Level 4_

 _Spellcasting: Level 2_

 _Devil Form: Level 14_

 _-Devil Form - Duke Valefor: Level 2_

 _-Telekinesis: Level 74_

 _-Telepathy: Level 3_

 _-Repel: Level 7_

 _Fallen Angel Form: Level 15_

 _-Light Spear: Level 21_

 _-Dual Light Spears: Level 2_

 _-Berserker: Level 1_

 _-Intimidating Aura: Level 1_


	17. Chapter 17

_Author's Note: Hey there guys, thanks for sticking with me! I've been working on another original story so I've kind of been slacking off on my fanfics, but fear not, I shall keep pecking away at this story until it is complete! :) I apologize for the long wait!_

* * *

The minute the squirrels vanished from his sight Ichigo knew he had to move fast, so he immediately switched to his Fallen Angel form and took to the air. A beat of black-feathered wings brought him above the trees, and he immediately began looking around, searching for any sign of the squirrels. As he did so, a glowing blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Quest accepted: Combat/retrieval-type. Read more?]

[Quest details: Capture or defeat the ten demon squirrels you created and figure out how to change them back to normal. No time limit. Quest rewards: 3000xp, random items]

Well, that settled that. If he didn't have to do something about the squirrels before, he definitely did now. The item bit in the reward bit kind of made him a tad suspicious, however, since it _was_ pretty vague.

He inwardly shrugged and turned his attention back to what he should be doing, namely rounding up the mutated squirrels. He wasn't nearly confident enough in his flying skills to try flying between the trees, so he would have to conduct an aerial search for the rodents. Though the leafy tops of the trees reduced his visibility by a good amount, he still caught a flash of fast-moving color that marked the presence of the one squirrel whose fur had turned a combination of bright pink and lime green for some reason.

He chased after it the moment he spotted the creature, getting ahead of it once he saw it was moving in a straight line and diving through a hole in the canopy. Bending his legs as he landed heavily, he immediately summoned a light spear and parried the squirrel's lunge, knocking it back with a twirl of the glowing weapon. The teenager wasn't aiming to beat around the bush, charging forward to knock out the animal so he could get to work finding the rest of them, but he hadn't counted on the colorful mammal's increased speed.

Having dodged his attack, the squirrel seized its chance and jumped for Ichigo's throat, which was so not happening! Bringing his spear up in time for the squirrel's fangs to close around the shaft instead of his jugular, he lashed out with his free hand and punched the dog-sized rodent in the stomach, uppercutting it much like he did when fighting Akagyoushi. Unfortunately, unlike Akagyoushi it didn't knock the squirrel out and the animal did a mid-air flip and landed on its feet about nine feet away.

What the fuck?

The squirrel didn't leave him any time for shock or for coming up with another idea, darting forward in a blur to try and sink its teeth into one of his legs. A swipe of the light spear cut the attempt short, but that didn't stop the beast from coming back around for another try. Ichigo was forced on defense, an occasional curse of " _Fucking hell-!_ " escaping him when the claws of the squirrel managed to slip by his guard and tear through his pants to give the skin beneath the fabric a small scratch. It wasn't a bad wound by means, but it was damn annoying to deal with.

He gave as good as he got, and his opponent was now sporting bald patches and a long cut on its tail that bled steadily and matted the fur. The squirrel looked really pissed off after that particular attack, and the volume of its hissing went up as its eyes started _glowing_ \- what the hell - and it turned into a vibrant pink-and-green blur as its speed increased, leaving Ichigo purely on the defensive as he parried and blocked all the charging attacks he could. Some got through and he now had several pieces missing from his shirt to match the slices in his pants, though none that did more damage than a papercut. Stung like hell though.

Locked in a sort of stalemate, Ichigo scowled as he tracked the squirrel's rapid movements, blocking swipes with the least movement possible as he tried to figure out a strategy to end the fight before his transformation ended. He could practically hear the clock ticking, and like hell he was going to let the time run out before he kicked this rodent's ass!

The squirrel's only special power seemed to be speed and increasing its already quick movements, so he supposed the thing to do would be to restrict where it could move. A cage of light spears should do the trick, because from what he'd seen the squirrel wasn't good at sharp changes of direction. Then he could move in for the finishing blow and somehow think of a way to keep it unconscious/stationary while he rounded up the others. Could he put living things in his inventory? Once he beat this squirrel he'd certainly find out.

[Passive skill: _Strategic Planning_ has gained a level!]

Really not the time! Ichigo mentally complained as he set his plan into motion, summoning his light spears two at a time and throwing them almost as soon as they appeared. The pattern on thrown spears at first seemed random, merely attempts to hit the speedy rodent running around him, but minutes later when the squirrel had to come to a screeching halt to avoid colliding with one it all became clear. After turning around in four full circles, the area around Ichigo was a mass of glowing blue spears impaling the ground, decreasing the squirrel's speed by a large amount as it tried to avoid the spears.

Conjuring more and more spears and throwing them in an attempt to wound the animal wasn't a rousing success, as its dodging speed hadn't been reduced that much, but the ways it could move were slowly being limited. When the squirrel was forced to come in closer to him, he switched from throwing his spears to swiping with them. This was marginally more successful as scratches and cuts began littering the beast's body, and his sharp eyes noticed that it was moving more slowly than ever. The blood loss was getting to it, Ichigo realized, and went in for the final strike, thrusting one spear forward and then swiping with the other when the squirrel dodged the first attack like he'd expected it would.

A long cut marred the animal's side, blood flowing freely from the newest wound, and the squirrel wavered for a long moment before collapsing to the ground, its energy spent. Ichigo didn't blame it, as he was breathing hard himself as he allowed the spears to dissolve in motes of blue light before vanishing.

Before the rodent could pull off some kind of last-ditch attack, he snapped out one hand and grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, opening the inventory with a quick bark. He thankfully had some empty squares after he'd gone on a sorting/cleaning spree a day back (i.e picking out what to send his sisters and then cackling for a minute before going to find a box to put it in), so with a deep breath he steeled himself and then shoved his arm, squirrel and all, in the screen.

When he pulled his hand back out, it was sans monster rodent and there was a cartoonish picture of the pink-and-green furred menace in one of the empty squares.

It had actually worked! Success!

And just in time too, because the second he closed the inventory, his vision was covered with a flash of blue light as his transformation timed out. He had to take a minute to adjust to having no wings again, but immediately after that he took off running in the direction of town, since that was where he thought most of the demon squirrels were headed.

* * *

It took him almost twenty minutes to get back to the edge town, and even before he entered the city he could see the signs that he was on the right track and the squirrels had _definitely_ passed through there. The partially melted car was a good sign, he figured, and all he had to do was follow the most obvious trail of destruction...namely the bushes that had been turned into impromptu torches and bent streetlamps.

He winced, feeling a twinge of guilt as he slowed down to a brisk jog to conserve his energy even as he prepared to fight. Now that he knew he could store the squirrels in his inventory, containing them would be a lot easier than catching them.

While he was inwardly lamenting his curiosity that had driven him to pull an Urahara, he abruptly stopped as his sense danger senses went off, and when the dog-sized squirrel charged at him from the side he was able to dodge. He then axe-kicked the thing, knocking it out and tossing it into his inventory. Two down, eight to go, he sighed as he started jogging again. Hopefully a couple more of them would be that stupid, but that was probably just wistful thinking.

In fact, if the squirrels had spread out like he thought they had, it was going to take him a long time to round them up, and there was no telling what damage the things could cause in the meantime. Although he could make a somewhat educated guess, he thought while side-eyeing a merrily burning bicycle and the accompanying melted patch of sidewalk.

He was passing by a small park when he heard a short scream, and while he broke into a sprint towards the source of the sound he also saw a bolt of lightning shoot down from the clear sky. Okay...that was either very good or very bad. When he got within sight of where the lightning had struck, the first thing he registered was the long green hair of Candice, and he smiled as he decided that it was definitely a good thing. Especially since the demon squirrel she was facing now looked like a poodle with its fur all frizzed out.

It looked ridiculous, but the humor of the situation was tempered somewhat by the sight of the two kids cowering behind Candice, who had green lightning crackling between her hands as she glared at the beast.

Taking advantage of the stand-off between the two, Ichigo sped up, reaching top speed and once within range jumping up to give a powerful double-kick to the squirrel's side. The animal went flying right into a tree, and he flipped back to his feet in time to hear Candice tell the kids to run back to their homes. He was thankful to hear their footsteps rapidly retreating, and he snickered a bit when Candice chanted her spell and zapped the squirrel again.

Unfortunately, before he could go over to haul it into his inventory, it rolled to its feet, shook itself (sporting rather singed fur), and then ran away. He stared, because come on! Why did he have to find a smart squirrel when he'd only captured two of the things so far? There was something unfair about that, he reflected before turning to Candice and asking, "Hey, you okay?"

The green-haired woman dusted off her jeans and long blouse and nodded, replying, "Yes, I'm fine. I was just going for a run when I saw that monster about to attack those two kids," She scowled, and okay, that was pretty intimidating especially since her hair was crackling with unspent electricity. He discreetly slid back a step as the woman approached him so he wouldn't get shocked.

"What were those things?" Candice demanded, hands braced on her hips and looking very displeased.

Ichigo paused, then decided to just bite the bullet. "Demon squirrels."

Silence.

Yeah, it didn't sound that impressive when said out loud, and both of them thought so if the look on Candice's face was any indication. At least she wasn't immediately calling him a liar, which was a point in his favor. Taking advantage of the moment of silence, Ichigo explained further, "I was, ah, practicing with some of my powers and I guess the squirrels didn't like that, because now I have to track them all down before anyone gets hurt. Most of them headed in this direction, so I was chasing them down."

More silence, then Candice hummed thoughtfully before asking slowly, "Why _do_ you have powers, anyway?"

The only answer he could think of was, "It runs in the family." Candice seemed to accept that answer, as she just nodded and muttered a quick 'same'. Which he had kind of suspected, really.

Shaking off the uncomfortable quiet, Candice frowned and asked seriously, "How many are there?"

"Eight."

Whistling between her teeth, the green-eyed woman looked thoughtful as she said slowly, "It would take too long if we both chased after them one at a time, so we should probably split up. We can catch them twice as fast that way, and hopefully minimize the destruction."

Ichigo could admit that that sounded good, but he was hesitant to let Candice take on the demon squirrels on her own, even if she was a higher level than they were. He'd already proved that levels were barely rough guidelines, after all, and he scowled as he tried to come up with an alternative plan. He couldn't pull it off, and he sighed as he said, "Okay. Let's stop by my apartment first though, I have some things that might help."

Time to dust off his loot from Valefor Castle and put some of it to use.

* * *

It didn't take long to get to his apartment, though they were waylaid for a moment by a particularly stupid demon squirrel jumping out of an alley and trying to sink its teeth into Candice's leg. The battle was a short one, and Ichigo discreetly stowed the puffy, twitching beast (it had had an unpleasant meeting with Candice's lightning powers) in his inventory when Candice turned away to dust off her hands.

He also made a mental note _not_ to piss her off if he could help it...He shuddered at the thought as they arrived at his apartment and went inside.

Making a beeline for the closet, the orange-haired teen picked through the box of jewelry he'd taken from his inventory, searching for a specific one that he knew he'd seen. A few minutes of picking through the lot and he found it - the Bracelet of the Storm. The slim silver bracelet was set with bright green and amber gems, and judging from what the description in his inventory said it increased the power of lightning and electricity-based spells and abilities. If that didn't scream Candice he didn't know what did, and if nothing else it would come in handy during the fights with the squirrels.

Grabbing the piece of jewelry, he headed back to the living room where he'd left the green-haired woman, finding her curiously examining the gouges in the walls he hadn't gotten around to fixing yet. When she looked at him, he sighed and said tiredly, "You don't want to know." Candice looked sympathetic for a moment before her eyes landed on the bracelet in his hand and promptly lit up.

Ichigo grinned as he held it out to her and explained, "From what I can figure out, if you wear this your lightning attacks will be stronger, so I thought that it would come in handy since some of the demon squirrels are pretty tough." He'd barely finished speaking before Candice snatched the bracelet and promptly fastened it around her wrist.

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

Oh look, the Voice was back.

[Candice Catnipp has joined your party as an active-combat/defense type! You can now request to fight alongside Candice Catnipp for an indefinite length of time.]

And there was the accompanying window. Hadn't seen that one in awhile.

Huh, he could have sworn he saw the jewelry sparkle just a bit brighter. Shaking his head and firmly telling himself it was not the time for the game mechanics of his life to start tossing new things at him, he added, "Okay, let's head out and take care of the rodent problem,"

Ichigo wasn't sure he liked the suddenly eager look on Candice's face. It reminded him a lot of Kenpachi.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait - I was ambushed by an extremely well-developed idea and I had to struggle to keep my attention on this story long enough to finish the chapter. Still, I hope it was at least somewhat worth the wait! Please leave a review on the way out, as always constructive criticism is welcome!_


	18. Chapter 18

_Author's Note: Hey you guys! Slightly longer than average author's note, but I really wanted to thank you all for being so patient while I worked on this chapter. Consider this a Valentine's present to all my readers! Thanks for sticking around! :)_

 _In other news, I have received my first death threat/order! I know that I'm a great writer when some jealous, thoughtless person hides behind the Guest tag and tells me to shoot myself and die. :) I'm well on my way to being an excellent writer, because everyone knows that it's only with truly incredible authors that small, petty people take the time to write meaninglessly cruel words for the sake of being cruel. *Nods*_

 _On the other hand, those messages are taking up valuable space on my review page that could be used for actual constructive reviews. So unfortunately for whatever mean-spirited person sent it in, I cannot allow them to clutter the review page, and thus my learning how to delete anonymous reviews actually has a purpose! ;P_

 _To all my dear readers, please note that although I choose to take a positive outlook on such drivel, other writers might not. So please be kind, readers. There's enough hate in the world without us adding to it._

 _*End of long author's note, now without further ado, the chapter you've all been waiting for!*_

* * *

"So, why did we go to the post office again?"

Ichigo glanced at Candice, raising an eyebrow at her curious expression before shrugging as he answered, "I figured since we were heading out anyway I might as well mail some stuff to my sisters while we looked for the squirrels, get it out of the way and everything." He'd remembered the box of stuff he'd decided to send to his sisters on the way out the door and had gone back for it, figuring he could swing by the post office and mail it before things got crazy again.

It turns out that they'd had the time, since for some reason the squirrels' trail of destruction had ended and the rodents had made themselves scarce. Considering the smallest was the size of a large dog, this was a remarkable feat. So he was able to drop off the package to be mailed and be in and out in minutes, and then he and Candice were reduced to walking around town and hoping one got cocky enough to attack them.

"What stuff did you send them?" Candice asked.

"Some jewelry I found, and a couple of dresses." Was the nonchalant reply.

The green-haired woman hummed thoughtfully before she smiled and said, "That's sweet of you, I bet your sisters will love it,"

She was surprised when Ichigo suddenly snorted with laughter, though the surprise cleared when he explained, "Yuzu will, no doubt about it, but Karin will be cursing my name. She's a tomboy and hates girly stuff, but since everyone opens their mail at the same time, she won't be able to throw anything away because dad and Yuzu will have seen it and be on the lookout. I would have sent make-up if I'd been able to find any, but the jewelry and stuff works too." He shrugged, smirking mischievously.

Candice giggled, enjoying the chance to see this new side of Ichigo that wasn't afraid to tease his sisters. It was good to know that he could playful on occasion, though she refused to think too deeply about why she felt that way. Instead she turned her attention back in the direction they were walking, sneaking looks at Ichigo from the corner of her eye as she asked him general questions about his sisters. His family sounded fun, if a bit weird if even half of what he said about his dad was true.

It was a nice day, and if it weren't for the fact that they were trying to track down a pack of demonic squirrels before anyone got hurt, she could have almost fooled herself into thinking they were on a date. But alas, reality prevailed and so she kept her eyes open for anything unusual even as she and Ichigo chatted.

Then they turned a corner and were treated to the sight of a dog-sized squirrel perched on top of a car, firing sharp spikes from its tail at anything that moved and howling fiercely. Candice hadn't known that squirrels _could_ howl, but then, this wasn't a normal squirrel, so it was probably the demonic part that let it make that sound. Since Ichigo had told her that he'd already caught two of the eight squirrels, this one would be number three, and her eyes narrowed as her heart began to pound in anticipation. She had never had the chance to test herself against an actual devil, and though the squirrel wasn't an actual devil, it was close enough that she was certainly looking forward to the fight. Not to mention that she was eager to see how much stronger the bracelet that Ichigo had given her made her lightning attacks - even now when she wasn't calling on her power she could feel it running through her.

As they approached, the squirrel took notice of them and snarled, bearing an impressive set of fangs and raising its spiked tail in an unmistakable threat.

Candice smiled viciously, flexing her fingers as sparks began crackling around her, and she was pleased to see Ichigo glance at her before turning his gaze back to the beast perched on the car, shifting into a ready stance. Obviously the orange-haired man trusted her to take care of herself, and that made her smile more widely as the sparks transformed into small arcs of electricity. That squirrel was getting _roasted_ , she swore.

She never considered that Ichigo taking what she thought was a fighting stance was more along the lines of him taking a step away from her, because some women were terrifying. They were kind and gentle one minute, horrific monsters the next when they stepped onto the battlefield. He had a great deal of experience with those kinds of females, and more power or not, you did not get in their way when it came to a fight, for that way lay a great deal of pain...and a trip to the nearest hospital. He would have felt sorry for the squirrel if it wasn't preparing to try and maim them and he wasn't still ticked off at the creatures.

Time seemed to freeze as the squirrel glared at them, and...was that a guitar solo he was hearing? His eyes widened as he realized that the fast riff was coming from nowhere, and a horrified look crossed his face as he realized that it was _battle music_. What the _fuck_. He had fighting music now?!

While Ichigo was reeling from this new and unpleasant development, the monster squirrel seized the opportunity to attack, rearing up and then slamming its front paws back down as it whipped its tail up and launched a volley of spikes at them. Ichigo manages to avoid being skewered, but not by much, and Candice hurls lightning bolts at the spikes shooting towards her to knock them out of the air. Her aim was amazing since she actually succeeded, the spikes burying themselves in the road still crackling with electricity, and a small part of Ichigo's brain piped up to reiterate that she was freaking terrifying. Really, she fit right in with pretty much all the women he knew.

Avoiding the barrage of spiky death had driven Ichigo almost a dozen feet away from Candice, neatly separating them as the squirrel shrieks and charges towards Candice, apparently deeming her the bigger threat. It was probably right too, considering Ichigo was still drifting in a kind of horrified daze as the music faded slightly, becoming background noise. Didn't make it any less distracting, but at least now he could hear other things besides a loud guitar solo and was able to dodge the next tail-spike attack by more than a few inches this time. He decided to let Candice deal with the demon squirrel while he processed this...unusual (and unhelpful) addition to the roster of game-like additions to his life.

She seemed to be having fun, which was more than could be said for him and the now slightly crispy squirrel.

Her eyes narrowed, Candice shot smaller, scattered bolts of electricity at the monster animal, the lightning racing forward like striking snakes as the creature attempted to dodge. Half the bolts missed, while the other half struck its side, hindlegs, and one front foot, sending it crashing to the ground in a heap with a snarling yelp. The green-haired woman laughed - more like cackled - as she threw her hands out to the side as they glowed brighter, the lightning around them crackling sharply as the voltage increased. Slinging her hands forward as the squirrel regained its feet, just barely managing to avoid the electricity arcing towards it.

The smell of singed fur lingered in the air, stinging noses and causing the demonic rodent to bare its' fangs in anger as the fur between its shoulder-blades blackened and curled under the heat.

Candice danced back as the squirrel lunged forward to swipe at her, razor-sharp claws just barely missing catching her shirt above her stomach. A wild grin graced her lips as she backflipped away from the vicious demon squirrel, laughing tauntingly as the monster shrieked in outrage at its' prey's avoidance. Firing volley after volley of spikes from its tail did nothing but cause her to show off her flexibility in dodging them, cartwheeling and somersaulting the least among the maneuvers she used. At one point one of her legs was wreathed in lightning, which she then used to _kick_ three spikes out of the air as she did a modified pirouette in mid-leap.

Beneath her, the fanged rodent doesn't seem to appreciate the unnecessary acrobatics.

Turning the pirouette into a front flip, Candice landed lightly and began moving the second her feet touched the ground as the squirrel charged. She led the creature on a merry chase, keeping one step ahead of snapping jaws as they ran in circles, the woman laughing and smilingly wildly. Three circles in, she abruptly dove to the side, surprising the squirrel who couldn't turn quick enough and sending it careening into the side of a parked car as it stumbled. The metal was caved in, practically bending the car in half as the squirrel heaved itself away from the totaled vehicle, shaking its head and staggering for a few seconds as though dazed.

The lightning-wielding woman takes full advantage of those seconds to hit the creature with several bolts, charring the fur along its side where they hit. The squirrel let out some bizarre mix of a chatter and a roar, spinning to face Candice and launching a wave of spikes with the motion. The spikes were fanned out, covering a greater ranger because of how the squirrel had moved to them, and Candice decided that dodging was the better point of valor. Jumping above the wave of pointy death got her clear of that attack, but there was an almost comical look of surprise on her face at the squirrel's follow-up assault.

Launching itself into the air after its target, the squirrel curled into a ball and began to spin like a buzz-saw as it hurtled towards where Candice was descending back to the ground. The grin that flashed across the green-haired woman's face could only be described as _bloodthirsty_ as lightning crackled between the hands cupped in front of her chest, a large ball of electricity forming. She hurled the ball lightning towards the rotating squirrel, successfully knocking the attack off-course as she dropped down onto the asphalt, diving into a roll and then springing back to her feet.

She recovered more quickly than the squirrel who hadn't landed nearly as gracefully, instead crashing and forming a crater in the road that it had to thrash and heave itself out of, now more than a little crispy around the edges. The previously only lightly burned patches on its pelt had turned black and cracking as it shook himself, the look in its' eyes nothing short of homicidal rage, the intensity of which was matched only by the expression of savage delight in Candice's.

Her hair lifting in tandem with the sparks of dancing around her, Candice laughed wildly as she swung her hands, guiding whips of lightning like she was conducting a symphony. The whips lashed at the demon squirrel who only managed to dodge two out of every three strikes, the ones that connected both burning and opening long gashes on its body that were almost instantly cauterized. The squirrel roared and squealed, its' eyes glowing like floodlights as it recklessly charged towards Candice who danced back, still wielding her electric whips.

Watching the battle from off to the side, Ichigo noted idly that they had forgotten he even existed. That was fine by him, he wasn't in any mental shape to fight after the fighting music revelation anyway. Plus, it was a good idea to see how Candice fought so they didn't trip over each other in case they would up fighting close together. Getting electrocuted really didn't look fun, he thought almost six minutes later, a drop of sweat sliding down the back of his head as the squirrel was hit full-on by another volt of lightning and finally slid to the ground in a twitching heap.

Seeing as the demon-creature was unquestionably defeated, he pushed off the wall he had been leaning against while watching the fight, walking over to where Candice was hopping and bouncing with glee. It did interesting things to her chest that he had to take a moment to appreciate before snapping out of it. Sneakily snatching up the squirrel and shoving it into his inventory when she did a victory spin and turned her back, he proceeded to where she was celebrating and chuckled at some of her silly dance moves.

Candice finished another victory twirl, opening her eyes that she'd closed during the spin as she struck a pose, thrusting out a hand making a victory sign. When she saw Ichigo standing in front of her looking amused, however, her face promptly turned red and she tripped over thin air, an achievement since she had been standing still. Ichigo choked back his urge to laugh in favor of steadying her, but he couldn't stop the corners of his lips from lifting in mirth as he watched her dust herself off nonchalantly, the unconcerned image somewhat ruined by her tomato-red face.

Coughing lightly into her fist, Candice turned and began walking in a random direction, declaring, "What are we waiting for, let's get moving! The demon squirrels wait for no one!"

Ichigo didn't argue, even if for all he knew the squirrels might actually be waiting for them to find them, snickering under his breath as he followed Candice.

* * *

As it turned out, the next squirrel they found wasn't so much waiting for them as busily electrocuting various cars and ignoring the attacks bouncing off its' fur, thrown by the Kuoh Student Council.

Ichigo blinked, because that was a new one. Of course he'd known the Student Council members weren't human, but he hadn't expected to see Sona Sitri tossing around ice chunks like confetti or Tomoe attacking with - was that a _katana_? Unexpected, but honestly not the weirdest thing he'd seen that day, or even that hour. She was actually pretty good at using it, he noted as he watched her execute a spinning slash that against probably any other target would have left it bleeding heavily.

The squirrel didn't even blink as the sword bounced harmlessly off its pelt, snorting and tearing trenches into the concrete as it shocked a few potted plants, setting them on fire in the process.

Contrary to how the demon squirrels acted towards him and Candice, the student council didn't seem to exist as far as this one was concerned. It was like their attacks weren't even connecting, even though Ichigo clearly saw this weird rope-thing extend from a gauntlet on Saji's hand and wrap around the squirrel's tail. Whatever it was supposed to do apparently didn't happen, judging by Sona's frown and Saji's virulent cursing as the line retracted. Kusaka Reya threw what looked like a _twister_ at the squirrel, and the girl let out a short shriek of dismay as her attack proved no more effective than Saji and Tomoe's had.

Even the combined force of Kusaka and Hanakai throwing spells didn't manage to make the squirrel do so much as blink. It lumbered over to a bench and set about ripping it to shreds, but that was about all it did, oddly placid except for the property damage.

Ichigo and Candice both blinked in confusion, standing at the end of the street and watching the devils - that's what they were pretty sure the Student Council was, after a moment's debate - throw everything they had at the unmoved squirrel.

("Shouldn't we help them out?" Ichigo wondered.

Candice shrugged, "Probably, yeah." She agreed.

Neither of them moved.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Candice pulling out her phone and recording the fruitless efforts of Sona and her group with a wickedly gleeful look on her face.)

They watched the almost comedic fight for about ten minutes before Candice stopped filming, her lips turned up in a satisfied smile as she tucked her phone away. Seeing the sparks beginning to crackle around her hands, Ichigo guessed that now was the time to jump in, which he did with a long sigh, beginning to walk towards the strangely calm squirrel with Candice beside him.

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

Okay, the voice he could deal with, but the battle music? No way in hell. Ichigo staunchly ignored the faint music only he could hear as it gradually grew louder, the tempo increasing the closer they got to the squirrel until both it and the Student Council noticed their approach.

The devils backed off, but squirrel reacted like it had been electrocuted (even though Candice hadn't thrown a single bolt yet). Its' eyes narrowed, fur raised threateningly, and a low, rumbling snarl started in its' chest, vibrating out until it sounded like someone revving an eighteen-wheeler's engine. The ground trembled up to twelve feet around the squirrel with the force of its' growling, and it crouched in preparation to attack just as the battle music hit the crescendo.

The demonized mammal lunged, and the battle was on.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Yeah, I suck for ending it there, but I didn't want to rush the next fight scene. Ichigo, Candice, and the Kuoh Student vs. the Demon Squirrel! Stay tuned for the next exciting episode! ;D There will definitely be some more interaction in the next chapter, but I wanted to use this one to show off how badass Candice can be. Please review and tell me what you think!_


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's Note: Hello all! In order to make up for the last chapter's cliffhanger, here's a fight scene and some main character interaction! By popular request/some reviewers type-screaming at me. :P_

* * *

The fight started with a bang, namely Candice tossing a huge lightning bolt at the charging creature and causing a car behind it to explode when the squirrel dodged.

Where were all these parked cars coming from? Ichigo wondered, ignoring the confused exclamations of Sona and the rest of the council. He was pretty sure that very few people in this part of Kuoh actually drove, and oh no, please don't let it be more weird game stuff, he prayed. The revelation of the battle music was all he could stand for the day, and mysteriously spawning background cars was pushing it! A twitch formed under his left eye as he avoided a charge from the electrified squirrel (Candice fumed when she realized five minutes into the battle that the squirrel used electricity too and was thus resistant to her power), and he channeled his anger constructively by landing a hard kick to its flank when it passed him.

It was sent skidding several feet to the side and squealed in anger as it spun towards its' new target, glaring through sparking eyes as lightning crackled around it. The kick hadn't done more than knock it off-course and make it angry, but it had certainly made Ichigo feel a bit better. It was an acceptable way to vent his frustration, and he planned to take full advantage of that fact, starting with delivering a roundhouse kick to the squirrel's shoulder when it launched another strafing attack and ran by.

Candice didn't seem to care that her electrical attacks had no effect on the squirrel, instead aiming at the ground to make use of the debris to cause damage or at its eyes to blind it so Ichigo could land more attacks. The indirect method actually works pretty well, the squirrel tripping and skidding as it tries to avoid the obstacles being thrown into its path and Ichigo landing punches and kicks when it slowed enough. Most of the attacks connected to the demonic rodent's sides, but he managed one punch to the squirrel's left hindleg that had it squealing in fury as the limb buckled underneath it.

A lightning strike from his green-haired comrade sent a chunk of concrete flying into the squirrel's ribs while it was down, dealing more damage as Ichigo moved in to land an axe kick to its spine before backing off.

Their hit-and-run tactics were working, slowly wearing down the demon rodent, and Ichigo was actually kind of surprised by how well he and Candice worked together. They moved around each other seamlessly, none of Candice's lightning even getting close to hitting him as he ran in to pummel the dazed squirrel.

("Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!")

Unfortunately, midway into another leap forward to punch the creature in the face, the Student Council overcame their shock and decided to try to 'help', all sarcasm intended. Said help resulted in Ichigo frantically throwing himself on the ground to avoid both the chunks of ice that flew through where his head had been and the demon mammal that had been attempting to tackle him. Static crackled in the wake of the squirrel's jump, and he felt his hair stand up straight in response.

He pushed himself to his feet as soon as the attacks ended, spinning to keep the creature in sight only to stop and cringe when he caught sight of his reflection in a window: he looked like an electrocuted porcupine. An _orange_ electrocuted porcupine. His eyebrow twitched as he turned to glare at Sona (the council was behind her trying to stifle their snickers, with no success) and yelled, "What the hell, lady?! Watch where you're aiming!"

The Student Council President stiffened, the very picture of affronted dignity as she pushed up her glasses with one finger as she replied, "I was. It was hardly my fault that you chose to get in the way of my attack."

"So nice to know you don't understand the meaning of 'collateral damage'! Because it's either that or you can't hit the broadside of a car-sized squirrel instead of the guy attempting to punch it!" Ichigo retorted, trying in vain to smooth his hair back down and getting small, stinging shocks to his fingers for his efforts.

" _I_ understand the meaning quite well, but it is hardly my fault you didn't look around before deciding to recklessly charge in, otherwise you would have seen my attack was perfectly on target." Sona said imperiously, like a queen rebuking a commoner, and oh, it was on now.

Ichigo glared, practically growling as he said, "If that's what you call on target, I'd hate to see what you consider a miss! A champion marksperson, you are _not_ , so why don't you and your friends there step back and try not to kill anyone." And okay, he knew he was probably going to get it when he went to school next, but let it be known that he didn't appreciate being reminded that friendly fire isn't, especially while being looked down on by a girl the size of Rukia.

Behind Sona, Tomoe and Kusaka both looked down in shame which, yeah, kind of made him feel like he'd kicked two puppies. Seeing the looks on their faces and feeling like he did the few times he'd had to scold Yuzu, he added as an aside, "Oh, not you two, I was just suggesting that your President should probably get her eyes checked before she attacks someone who isn't fast enough to dodge, because those glasses obviously aren't helping."

Vice-President Tsubaki Shinra gasped, one hand rising to cover her own mouth as Sona's fell open in shock. Without waiting for Sona to think up a comeback, Ichigo turned and headed back to the fight, ducking under Saji's strange rope-thing as the blond swung it and side-stepping Hanakai's miniature twisters as he launched himself forward. He had some more aggression to work out, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Candice had dazed the squirrel again, so he took the chance to pull back a fist and punch the giant rodent right in the jaw, the impact snapping its head back and exposing its chest to his follow-up kick. The combo knocked it backwards, Hanakai sending it flying even further with a large gale and buying them all a moment to catch their breath. Ichigo didn't bother taking a breather, chasing after the flying squirrel and kicking it while it was down, only to have to have it recover faster than it should have. Those large fangs nearly closed on his foot, just barely missing his toes as he jumped back in the nick of time.

Saji's rope whipped passed him and looped once around the beast's neck, the teen's cry of victory turning into a yelp of surprise when the squirrel heaved itself up and took off running towards Ichigo, dragging the blond teen with it.

" _Fuck_!" Ichigo and Saji yelled.

Ichigo was able to get out of the squirrel's way, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the flailing Saji, the impact bowling them over as the rope disconnected a minute too late. Sent sprawling, Ichigo's head connected with the road with a slightly worrying _crack_ , and he blinked as his vision wavered and pain shot through his skull. Saji wasn't in much better shape laying across Ichigo's waist, and it might have been because of the minor concussion, but Ichigo could of sworn the blond's eyes had been replaced by swirls like in an anime...

Blinking rapidly, he was relieved when the next time he looked Saji's eyes were normal, if just as dazed as he was. Game abilities were fine, he could handle that, but he drew the line at fucking _anime_.

Shoving Saji off of him and feeling no guilt whatsoever when the other teen let out a pained whine, Ichigo stood up, trying to find out why the squirrel hadn't taken the chance to attack the two of them while they'd been dazed. The scene a ways off to his right provided the answer of 'because Candice was tossing chunks of concrete at its head, Hanakai was smacking it around with gusts of wind, and Tomoe was doing her best to bludgeon it to death with a street sign'. It seemed that the katana-wielder had given up on attacking with a blade and was working out some frustration by attempting to use the demon squirrel as a piñata.

He sympathized with the girl, he really did. Her spirited swings didn't look to be doing anything more than pissing off the giant rodent, if the agitated roars and snapping fangs were any judge. Annnnd it looked like this squirrel could bite through metal, he saw as the rodent got the street sign swinging towards its head between its jaws and snapped it in half.

"Yikes," Saji muttered, giving voice to what Ichigo was thinking as the blond came up to stand beside him.

Ichigo sighed, saying aloud, "Well, that's enough gawking. Come on, blondie, we better go help," because your President looks like she's about to pop a blood vessel and Candice's maniacal laughter was starting to creep him out, he left unsaid.

"Uh huh..." Saji agreed, then blinked a minute later when what Ichigo had called him registered, "Wait, what did you call me?"

Ichigo was already running towards the battle and didn't answer, and all Saji could do was hurry after him, ducking the spells flying through the air.

Brightly colored magic circles flashed, arcs of lightning lashed out, and what should have been Candice and the Council against the squirrel was more like a free-for-all. It was utter bedlam, and Reya, the sweet-faced member of the Council that Ichigo actually liked (they had the same taste in literature and had once had a lively debate about Shakespeare's works), had shown great wisdom by sprouting her wings - a Devil just like he and Candice had thought! - and taking flight to get an aerial view of the battle.

Hanakai followed after her, but Sona and Tsubaki were still on the ground uselessly firing spells at the squirrel, who was more focused on Tomoe and - was that Tsubasa Yura? When did she get there? He was fairly sure she hadn't been there when he and Candice had first arrived...At any rate, the two girls were running circles around the enraged creature. The blue-haired girl was wielding a giant piece of concrete in each hand and swinging them around like they were marshmallows, slamming them against the squirrel and grinning like she was having the time of her life leaping back to avoid snapping jaws or a spiked tail.

Candice was hanging back and erratically throwing bolts, varying the strength and timing of her blasts so she didn't hit Tomoe or Tsubasa by mistake. The lightning didn't come close to hitting anything, but it served to distract the squirrel long enough for both girls to avoid what would have been crippling strikes from the squirrel's tail. Another whack from Tsubasa's chunks of concrete had the squirrel roaring and abruptly remembering that oh yeah, it could throw the spikes on its tail, which it promptly did.

Tomoe went down with a short shriek, three of the spikes scoring hits on her arm, thigh, and calf and opening small gashes where they'd grazed her. That sent Saji into motion, and he cursed the demonic creature loudly as he cast his line out and, in a fit of genius, tangled the squirrel's feet to trip it up as Tsubaki darted in and dragged the injured girl out of the danger zone.

Sona didn't look happy at her subordinate's language, but notably did nothing more than press her lips into a thin line as she finally stopped conjuring jets of ice (they looked kind of like the ice bolts he'd used in Duke Valefor form, Ichigo noted, except they were a _lot_ weaker). Once the Council President stopped firing, Ichigo felt it was safe enough to run over to the bound, thrashing squirrel and deliver a stunning kick to its head. It gave one last flop before going still, eyes glazed and unfocused, and Ichigo watched it suspiciously as he backed away.

Saji had no such suspicions and crowed triumphantly as he retracted the rope into the gauntlet on his arm, turning and going to check on the injured Tomoe who was mumbling about it being a 'lucky shot'. She looked a bit embarrassed, which Ichigo could sympathize with. It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to admit that you'd been knocked out of a fight by a squirrel, even a giant demonized one. The swordswoman's injuries were still bleeding sluggishly - her shirt was probably done for - but Reya had landed and was holding glowing hands over the worst of it, which seemed to help.

He guessed that that was some kind of healing spell (he couldn't make out the symbols in the magic circles), since Tomoe was regaining her color and the blood was slowing down, and he kind of wondered if he had any healing magic in his spells tab. He would have to take a look once the current quest was done, because damn that looked handy. A minute later Tomoe was back on her feet, cheeks still red, and Sona nodded crisply as she said, "It was a good thing you were not terribly injured, Tomoe." She looked at her Vice-President as she continued, "Tsubaki, excellent work in retrieving your injured comrade." The long-haired girl smiled and nodded gracefully, "Genshirou-kun," Sona began, the boy straightening up expectantly and looking like his birthday had come early, and she seemed both proud and reluctant as she finished, "congratulations on your quick thinking in restricting the squirrel's movements and enabling Kurosaki to land the-"

It looked like it physically pained her to admit that he was the one who'd knocked out the squirrel, so she was probably grateful that her speech was interrupted by both Hanakai and Candice shouting.

" _Get down_!"

**^&%$%#

Ichigo hit the dirt with all the speed and experience of someone who had been in battles where ducking was the difference between surviving or losing your head.

Sona wasn't so lucky; the squirrel that had been playing dead leaped over Ichigo and hit her with the force of a Mack truck while she was stunned and unable to dodge. Everyone instinctively cringed when they heard the unmistakable crack of bones breaking, and the council's cry of "Kaichou!" was barely heard over the sound of Sona's pained yell. All of them rushing to get the squirrel away from their leader, but the squirrel had her thoroughly pinned.

Ichigo and Candice jumped in to help distract the beast right before it went to close its fangs around a slender throat, Candice sending as big a lightning bolt she could muster at its haunches and Ichigo lunging forward to grab the squirrel's neck in a choke-hold. Pulling back with all his strength, he managed to haul the demonic beast up enough for Tomoe to run in and drag her leader to safety as the squirrel clawed fruitlessly at the air.

The beast broke loose just as Tomoe skidded to a stop behind Tsubasa and Tsubaki, roaring and screaming in rage as it turned on Ichigo. The orange-haired teen jumped back, turning what would have been a disemboweling blow into a glancing one that sliced his shirt to ribbons and opened a thin cut on his abdomen. His breath hissed from between his teeth, and he dove to the side to avoid the beast's follow-up charge, shaving a layer of skin off his arm but avoiding being dismembered. He was definitely doing better than Tsubasa, who had tried to attack the creature from behind while it was distracted and instead wound up with a face full of spikes.

Tsubasa screamed an indistinct curse, the sound echoed by the concerned yells of the rest of the Council. The gashes weren't deep enough to show bone, but they were still severe and undoubtedly painful. Her cheeks were bleeding badly as she retreated, though thankfully the spikes hadn't hit her eyes. Blood dripped down her face like macabre tears to stain her formerly white t-shirt, and Ichigo had to respect the fact that the girl wasn't screaming from pain.

Reya rushed over to her injured teammate (Sona was holding a pair of glowing hands against her own chest as she took over her own healing) as Tomoe and Hanakai charged in while the squirrel was trying to decide whether to keep going after Ichigo or try to finish off the injured Devil. The livid expression on Tomoe's face was actually rather frightening, Ichigo decided as he scrambled to his feet and watched as the swordswoman screamed a battle-cry while trying her damndest to turn the monster rodent into mince meat. Hanakai's face was a mask of icy fury as she supported her comrade by tossing lances made of magical energy at the creature from above, aiming everywhere Tomoe wasn't and scoring some good hits in the process.

Surprisingly, non-elemental magic actually seemed to have an effect on the malicious thing, patches of fur being shaved away by each lance of energy and blood seeping from shallow injuries as the rodent dodged. Several bolts had opened deep slices on its flanks, one of them cutting a bunch of the spikes on its tail in half and pissing off the squirrel more than all the other injuries combined. Saji had decided to err on the side of caution and not try his rope trick again, instead began running around, jumping and hollering and fanning the flames of the squirrel's rage even higher as its' attention was divided even further.

Sona, her broken ribs now healed, had also changed tactics, creating ice walls to limit the beast's movements and try to pin it in place, though she had only minor success, most of the walls shattering with a single swing of the squirrel's tail. Tsubaki had summoned some kind of mirror and was reflecting any spikes thrown towards her or Sona, and Reya was still healing the wounds to Tsubasa's face.

Candice and Ichigo exchanged quick glances and nodded before they rejoined the fray, Candice throwing thin arcs of lightning to aid Sona in keeping the squirrel's movement limited. The squirrel was bleeding from multiple shallow wounds that were obviously taking a toll on its endurance, and Ichigo took shameless advantage of that, his attacks targeting the present wounds. The squirrel's movements became more and more frenzied as it tried to get at the ones attacking it, snapping and flinging spikes and wild bolts of electricity at whoever was nearby instead of paying attention to all of them.

Ichigo got a work-out ducking and dodging away from the squirrel's fangs and claws, Candice and the Student Council able to inflict more damage as the squirrel focused on him since he was closest to it. He steadfastly refused to be distracted by the multiple windows popping up in front of him, too busy avoiding being mauled to care about them because _damn it_ , he doesn't need his Sense Danger skill to know he's in danger of dying!

Bending backwards until his head nearly touches the ground, he feels the tips of a spiked, electrified tail barely skim over his abdomen as he sucks in his stomach, tearing half his shirt off and causing his hair to stand on end but leaving him otherwise intact. He turns the bend into a backwards hand-spring to avoid the sparking bite following the squirrel's spin, landing in a crouch and beyond grateful to hear Candice's battle cry as a lance of lightning flashes by him accompanied by hailstones the size of bowling balls as he straightens up.

The lightning practically washed over the squirrel like water off a duck's back, but the hailstones pushed it back several steps and gave Ichigo some breathing room. Tomoe diving in and swinging with enough force that she managed to penetrate the beast's thick fur and draw a small bit of blood gave Ichigo a bit more as the squirrel turned and went after the slender brunette. Hanakai provided cover for the darting swordswoman by sending fireballs raining down from above, the flames splashing against the ground like stones thrown into water and lapping at the squirrel's sides.

It didn't do more than curl some of the creature's fur, but it was a fine distraction.

A distraction that the freshly-healed Tsubasa took full advantage of by swooping in and slamming a fist into the animal's side with a grisly _crunch_. The squirrel went flying, landing hard on its side and laying still save some spastic twitching in its paws. A low wheeze emerged from its mouth, and Ichigo winced, because _ouch_ , it sounded like quite a few of the squirrel's ribs had been broken. He would have felt more sorry for the thing if it hadn't given them so much trouble in that fight, and as it was he just barely managed to sneak over and shove it into his inventory while everyone was congratulating Tsubasa on landing the finishing blow.

Thank whoever for that handing time-stopping side-effect of his menu - it enabled him to sneak over to the squirrel and then slip back to where he'd been standing and leave no one the wiser.

Fortunately when he closed the menu and the world regained color, Sona and the Council didn't think anything of the fact that the defeated squirrel had disappeared from where it had followed (which makes sense, if Devils were used to defeated foes dissolving like that fire-wielding Stray he'd killed).

 _Un_ fortunately, that meant there was nothing to distract Sona when she turned on him and Candice, saying coldly, "Now that that is taken care of, we need to talk, Kurosaki-san."

Damn, so much for hoping she didn't know who he was, Ichigo mentally groaned as Candice started glaring, the camaraderie created by battling a demonic rodent disappearing pretty quickly as the Council formed ranks behind Sona.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you liked the chapter that the bunny dragged in (I was literally picturing Bunny from Rise of the Guardians - an excellent movie - looming over my shoulder as I typed this, LOL!), and my apologies if the fight scene dragged on, I just thought it would be interesting to have one of the squirrels play dead and then go for a sneak attack. :) Please review and tell me what you think!_


	20. Chapter 20

_Author's Note: Well, I wanted to post this on July 4th, but when I looked back over it I realized that I'd written most of it while loopy from NyQuil, so that nixed that plan. *Shrugs* So instead, I decided to post it today in honor of my brother's birthday!_

 _I've actually been thinking of getting a P atreon account and posting this story there for anyone who thinks they might want to donate a dollar, and I decided that if I did, over there this story would be at least three chapters ahead of where it is here. There will also be excerpts and ideas for future dungeons and boss battles. I wouldn't stop updating this story here on ff, you'd just have to be more patient than you would be if you read it over there if I actually do it. The reason I tell you this is because I was wondering, what do you guys think?_

* * *

In a stroke of sudden genius, the kind that usually only occurred to him if he was about to die or the world was in danger, Ichigo opened his menu at the same time Sona opened her mouth to speak.

He watched with satisfaction and no little fascination as time stopped, the color draining from Candice and the Student Council as the world turned gray, and indulged in a quick grin as his idea worked just like he'd hoped. He didn't know if time stopped everywhere when he opened the menu or if he was shifted out of sync with the rest of reality so it just _seemed_ like time stopped, but either way he now had time to think, and he planned to use it.

Using the menu had been a bit of a risk, since he hadn't opened it around anyone aside from that one time with Tiamat, which might have been beginner's luck or because she was a dragon or something. The main thing was that he needed a moment to get his thoughts together, and this way gave him more than one. Some of his main problems were figuring out what he could and couldn't say, what the Council President would believe and what he just plain didn't want to mention...although, he mused, did he really have to say anything? He wasn't obligated to answer any of Sona's questions, and he definitely wasn't going to tell his life-story just because she wanted information.

Thinking on it, did he really _want_ to stay and talk to Sona?

There was no real reason he had to, just Sona's resemblance to Tatsuki and Karin during her demand for information giving him pause. They had that same 'you _will_ tell me what I want to know or else' tone of voice, one that hit him with a pang of nostalgia and the urge to call his sisters, and he made a mental note to do just that once the quest was over. That was another reason not to waste any time completing the quest, the first and most important one being that just because one squirrel hadn't been causing too much damage and seemed to be more or less _waiting_ for him and Candice to show up didn't mean the others would do the same.

Sona struck him as the type to grab on and not let go until she had wrung every drop of information out of him that she could get, and he didn't have that kind of time to spare. Not only would she not believe him, but what good would telling her anything really do? It didn't seem like they could help round up or defeat the remaining demon rodents, since the Student Council's attacks hadn't done anything more than annoy the squirrel, and in some cases had actually hampered him and Candice during the fight by almost hitting them and forcing them to dodge friendly(ish) fire.

Although, he grudgingly admitted, that hadn't been entirely their fault. They hadn't known what they were facing, and it was a definite point in the Devils' favor that when they'd stumbled across a demonic squirrel tearing up pavement that they'd tried to stop it even after seeing that their attacks had no effect instead of leaving it alone to potentially hurt someone. Come to think of it, maybe they'd had something to do with why there'd been no people around? It was true that it was the time of day that most people were at work and the streets were least crowded, but for _no one_ to have encountered the squirrel? Either the Devils had put up a barrier, or the weirdness of game mechanics had struck again.

If it was the first one, that definitely raised his opinion of Sona and co., and if it was the second he wasn't going to question it.

...Damn it, now he didn't even know if he was trying to talk himself into or out of telling them something!

Okay, how would Ishida work through this? The Quincy was better at detailed planning than he was, as much as it pained him to admit it - his plans were always vague 'go here and do this' affairs that left room for improvising - and damn he was really out of his depth if he was trying to put himself in that guy's mindset. But, he had few options and this one didn't involve stabbing someone, so he was going to try it.

Right, what was the first step? He asked himself, and he could almost hear Ishida's voice, that familiar combination of exasperated and smug, telling him, " _It's obvious, Kurosaki; just think about the problems involved with each option!_ " and wow, even in his mind the Quincy sounded like a dick. Still, mental Ishida had a point. The guy had been one of his best friends once they got passed the majority of his issues, not to mention damned reliable in a fight, so he sighed and just went with it. At least now he had a place to start.

The biggest problem he could think of with telling the truth, even just an edited version of it, was the issue of belief, namely the question of would Sona believe anything he told her? Taking a moment to think about it told him that the answer to that was probably a no. First impressions weren't good on either side, since she'd nearly taken his head off literally, and he'd tried to do the same figuratively. While that could pretty much sum up the beginning of all his friendships since he was five, he figured it wouldn't really help him in this case. Sona and her group probably weren't inclined to trust him after that exchange, for all that he'd saved Sona from getting her head ripped off by a giant squirrel. Momo and Tsubasa might give him the benefit of the doubt, because he'd helped them out and they seemed pretty laid-back, but the scales still weren't tipped in his favor.

So, if the Student Council wouldn't believe him, would it be worth it to try to convince them to listen?

Trying to look at the situation objectively, would telling the Student Council have any real benefits? Their powers hadn't had much effect on the squirrel beyond distracting it, the chunks of concrete tossed up by their attacks doing the most damage. While distractions were useful, it wasn't only the demonic rodent that had been effected by the debris; he'd also had to duck flying pieces of asphalt, as had Candice. Either thought was something to take into consideration when comparing the pros and cons, which he promptly did.

He ran the memory of the fight back through his mind to figure out whether the Council had helped or hindered their efforts more in the battle. He remembered that when he and Candice had found the squirrel, it had been ignoring any and all attempts by the Devils to get its attention, so the distractions had really only started taking effect _after_ the battle had started. Carefully examining everything that he could remember during the conflict, he came to the conclusion that the instances of aiding and interfering were more or less even, but time-wise the Devils had definitely caused the fight to stretch on longer than it had to. Without the interruptions caused by Sona and company's attempts at fighting the critter themselves, Candice and he could have probably defeated the squirrel in half the time. Instead they'd spent the additional time trying to corral the beast and protect the attempting-to-be-helpful Devils when he really should be taking care of the rodent problem as quickly as possible.

(He mentally swore that if his thoughts started leaning in a Urahara-like direction again, he would think very carefully about whatever it was, and maybe smack himself for good measure just to be on the safe side, before actually doing whatever it was he was thinking of.)

Did he want to take the chance that the next squirrel might be more vulnerable to their attacks and tell them a version of the truth? Since the mutated rodents _were_ his fault, he really wouldn't be lying if he just said that he had been experimenting with his powers and accidentally created them; he didn't even have to tell them what type of power he was using. "No, not really," He said with a sigh, answering his own question aloud.

And that's really what it boiled down to, wasn't it? Not advantages or disadvantages, if he should or shouldn't, if he had enough time to try to explain, or what would be the 'right' choice. No, it all came down to whether or not he _wanted_ to talk to Sona and explain away any questions she had. A frown tugged at the corner of his lips as he turned the question over in his mind, his first instinct being 'no', but should he follow that instinct? Doubtless Zangetsu and his Inner Hollow would be disappointed and chewing him out respectively if they could hear him now.

' _Hesitate and you will die, right Old Man?_ ' Ichigo thought, shaking his head ruefully with a soft, almost melancholy smile before clapping his hands unnecessarily and deciding that moping time was over. Time to follow his gut, he decided, smile transforming from something sad to something lighter.

* * *

Decision made, conclusion found, answer to dilemma reached, so on and so forth, Ichigo took a deep breath and cast a look around the grayed out surroundings.

Overhead, some birds were frozen in mid-flight, one of them in the process of 'dropping a load' directly towards Saji's head, and he took a moment to contemplate the scene.

(He had the fleeting thought that maybe he should move the guy out of the way, then decided that doing that would create more trouble than he was ready for...not to mention it would make a great distraction when it hit and the blond started squawking. It had nothing to do with the potential hilarity value, really...okay, so maybe that was a bit of a factor, don't judge him.)

Taking one final breath and letting it out in a sigh, Ichigo closed the menu and watched in interest as the world regained its color. He still had no clue if activating the menu froze time, slowed it down so much it seemed stopped, or just shifted him slightly sideways into a pocket dimension (and he would probably never find out unless Urahara showed up and somehow figured out his game powers, which - no thanks), but it was fascinating to watch the gray recede and time resume. He interrupted just as Sona began to say, "First of all, what-"

"Sorry, I don't feel like talking right now, we have things to do!" He said quickly, grabbing a startled Candice's arm and swiftly sprinting away from the stunned Devils. Behind him, he heard Sona give a sharp command for him to stop, but like hell he'd listen. Next to him Candice seemed to agree, going from being towed along to running next to him as they made tracks in a random direction.

As they reached the corner that would take them away from Sona's line of sight, Ichigo heard Saji screech in disgust and several of the Council start laughing as he yelled, voice a few octaves too high to sound male, "My hair! It's in my hair! Get it out get it out _get it out_!" and Ichigo started cackling, because the incoming 'distraction' he'd noticed was right on time and worked _perfectly_. When Candice stumbled on the turn and only remained on her feet due to his grip on her hand, odd choking sounds escaping her, he knew she'd glanced back just in time to see what had happened.

Ichigo kind of wished he'd looked back too, because it must have been hilarious to have Candice in breathless hysterics, but eh, you couldn't have everything.

"Awesome, wasn't it?" He couldn't resist asking rhetorically, corners of his lips twitching in a repressed grin.

" _Damn right it was_!" Candice managed to gasp out before she went right back to giggling, "Did you see the look on that guy's face?! When the bird poop just - smack, right on top of his head! He screamed like a little girl!"

She was too busy laughing to pay attention to where they were going, so Ichigo continued pulling her along, glad that she was moving instead of curled up on the sidewalk rolling in laughter as he admitted, "No, I didn't see, but I kind of wish I had. It sounded hilarious though."

"You missed out," Candice confirmed, "Also, I think that Sona girl is going to be pretty upset with you for awhile...which one was she again?"

"Yeah, I'm probably in for next time I go to school," Ichigo sighed, then informed her, "and she was the one with the short hair and the glasses that started talking before we ran away. She's the President of the Student Council, and likely can and will make the remaining school year hell for me because I just blew her off."

Candice absorbed that, her giggles more or less died down, and then asked, "Why did we run away?"

"I didn't want to waste time talking to her that could be spent hunting demonic rodents."

"It had nothing to do with how she almost took your head off in the fight?"

"Nope."

"Just checking."

There was a pause, during which both realized that they were still holding each other's hand, and though they blushed while pointedly looking away, neither of them made any move to cease contact. Anyone who took one look at their cherry-red faces and clasped hands would likely start cooing about young love; they were the spitting image of a new boyfriend and girlfriend out on a stroll.

A couple more minutes of silence, and then Ichigo coughed and asked, "So, want to go hunt down the last of the squirrels, then get dinner?"

"Sure!"

Candice was pleased - multiple fights in one day with food afterward? _This_ was a man who knew how to show a girl a good time.

* * *

 _Author's Note: And there you go, hot off the presses! I didn't really edit a lot, so let me know if you see any errors, because I suspect there's going to be some typos that slip by me, LOL. :)...Anyone know how many squirrels were left? I forgot due to wrestling with an original idea that snuck up on me (I know, it's no excuse, but what can you do?). Thank you all for being so patient, and feel free to review and tell me what you thought!_


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Consider this my thank you to all my readers, and I hope you enjoy this wrap-up of the squirrel arc! :)_

 _After much deliberation, I've decided not to do the thing due to several reviewers bringing up legal gray areas that could get me in a lot of trouble. Thank you all for sending in your opinions!_

* * *

After escaping from the Student Council and making sure that they weren't being followed, it didn't take long for them to find the next squirrel.

They had more or less picked a random direction and started wandering when they stumbled across it, this one splashing around in a park fountain. A quick jolt from Candice and it was down for the count, leaving Ichigo free to stuff it in his inventory while Candice picked another direction. Compared to the drag-out brawl from earlier, the fight was almost anticlimactic. The same could be said of the three after that, because none of them shared the electrical immunity of the car-sized rodent from earlier it simply took zapping them once to knock them out.

Ichigo wasn't about to complain about the simplicity; since the two of them were running around Kuoh to find the squirrels, easy fights weren't something he was going to question. Candice was having a good time seeing how much she could get the rodents' fur to stand on end, something that reached new heights of hilarity when one of the them fell out of the tree it had been perched in after being jolted. By the time she was done, they all looked like giant static puffballs, and he greatly enjoyed laughing at the sight as he collected them and followed after his - friend? Date? - _companion_.

It was starting to get late, nearly dinnertime when Ichigo and Candice found the final two squirrels which, in the fine tradition of saving the best for last, were the boss squirrel and the one with laser eyes.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure how they managed to find them - they weren't standing in an open or easily accessible area like the previous squirrels, and there were no obvious trails of destruction leading to the demonic critters. One minute he and Candice were wandering down a street lined with mysteriously empty stores (not one of them with a 'closed' sign in the window), and the next they were standing in front of a deserted warehouse with no idea how they'd gotten from point A to point B.

There wasn't even a real reason for them to be in the part of town that had warehouses, but lo and behold, there they were, standing in front of a building that could have been the _definition_ of 'derelict'.

Long empty and in the state of disrepair that said the place had been forgotten to the point that no one had even remembered to demolish, the warehouse was a squat, rectangular two-story building. The outside had the weathered, dusty gray-brown color of a structure that had been left untended and at the mercy of the elements for more than a few years, the walls cracked along the foundation in multiple spots and the number of broken windows outnumbering the whole ones by a wide margin. Shards of glass like so many fangs framed the openings to the darkness within the building, giving the impression of dozens of gaping mouths waiting to swallow anyone foolish enough to try to peer inside.

The sliding metal doors were rusted to the color of old blood, and with one look Ichigo knew that trying to force them open would create one hell of a racket. The smaller employee entrance off near one corner of the building wasn't in better shape, brown flecks of rust showing through the gaps in the boards that had been used to barricade it. By all appearances the place was thoroughly abandoned with no signs that anyone had passed by recently, but for some reason the hairs on the back of Ichigo's neck stood up just looking at it.

A quick glance at Candice showed her rubbing her arms to try and smooth away the goosebumps on her exposed skin. Obviously something didn't feel right to her either. The best way he could come up with to describe the sensation was the feeling you got when you first stepped into an empty school or other large building, the sound of your footsteps echoing in the halls and your suddenly loud breaths making you think 'am I really alone in here?'. It was creepy as fuck, and you knew it was bad when _Ichigo_ was the one saying that. He'd faced down ghosts, Hollows, and gods of death bent on killing him in addition to a war of the dead and somehow managed to take it more or less in stride - if he considered something creepy, it meant that any sane person would be running in terror.

He knew the smart thing to do would be to turn and walk away, but there was something about that building that made him think that that would be a mistake. Not only did it put him on edge, it also made him reluctant to leave it alone, and he balanced precariously on the fence between either walking away or going inside. The conflicted expression on Candice's face told him that she was fighting with the same dilemma.

"...We have to go inside, don't we?" Ichigo finally voiced, his query not directed to anyone in particular, and if there was a touch of resignation in his voice, well he didn't think anyone would blame him.

Candice hesitantly nodded, her reply tinged with reluctance, "Yeah, I think we do. There's just something about that place...we can't just leave it alone, can we?"

Ichigo withheld a groan, instead sighing as he agreed, "No, we can't. With my luck, the place is probably haunted, or more likely there's something sealed inside that could potentially destroy the world and the minute we walk away some idiot will break in and somehow let it out." Candice let out a somewhat hysterical giggle, likely thinking that he was trying to lighten the mood, but the truth was he was completely serious. That was just the way his life worked.

* * *

As it turned out, he was sort of right and sort of wrong, they discovered after climbing through one of the broken lower windows (no need to make more noise than they needed to by prying open one of the doors). There _was_ something in the building, but it wasn't world-ending. No, it - or should he say they - was just a pain in the ass to deal with, Ichigo mentally deadpanned as he looked around the dark warehouse that was illuminated just enough by the setting sun outside that he could clearly see the two giant squirrels in the middle of the ground floor.

He had a second to take in the corroded walkways that made up the second floor and dust thick enough to act as a carpet before his attention was forcibly drawn to the squirrels when the larger one _screeched_. It was like the sound of nails on a chalkboard had an affair with a microphone screech and the noise the squirrel was making was their horrible lovechild. He flinched, hard, the urge to cover his ears and hunch over like Candice was doing almost overwhelming, but he resisted. It was a good thing he did, because that meant he was able to grab Candice's arm and pull her out of the way of a laser blast from the smaller squirrel's eyes.

They hit the ground awkwardly, Ichigo having only one hand free to soften the impact and both of Candice's being occupied covering her ears. The storm of dust the landing kicked up caused them both to cough and hack, but since neither of them got seared in half by the laser swipe nor lost any limbs, he was still counting it as a win. Thumping one fist against his chest to dislodge the dust from his throat while Candice sneezed explosively beside him, Ichigo was profoundly relieved when the shrieking stopped.

It turned out to be both a good and bad thing; good because their ears were no longer being tortured, bad because it meant the squirrel was gearing up for something worse. The pain in his ears had barely faded to a dull ringing when the bigger squirrel snarled and began stamping its feet, and barely a minute later Ichigo became conscious of the small tremors beneath his feet. As he pulled Candice into a standing position, the green-haired woman stumbling a little as she tried to regain her balance, the vibrations grew stronger. His stomach felt like it dropped to the vicinity of his feet as he realized what was going on, and he swore violently as he dragged Candice behind some of the large crates that were scattered through the warehouse.

Both fell to their knees behind the makeshift barrier when a stronger rumble shook the ground just in time.

A laser beam scored the wall above their heads, leaving a smoldering black line on the concrete as it swiped back and forth before sputtering out. The pair stayed crouched down for several moments just to be sure the attack was actually over, listening to the high-pitched, angry chattering coming from the other side of the crates. His gaze darting around to try and get a better lay of the land, he noted the various giant crates - like the one he and Candice were hiding behind - scattered around, some broken, and some stacked on top of each other. Beside him, Candice took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, drawing his attention as he checked to make sure she was actually recovered.

Seeing him looking at her, Candice gave a shaky smile and a thumbs up, indicating that she was good, then making a face as she tapped one of her ears. Apparently she couldn't hear that well yet, which...yeah, that could be a problem, and they both knew it. Calling out a warning to duck was a lot less effective if the person being warned couldn't hear it, much less the sounds of an attack coming from behind or any other blind-spot. Either handicap could be fatal, and Ichigo grimaced in understanding. They would have to be careful.

There was a sudden squeaking-growl on the other side of their cover, this one much closer than the last noise from the squirrels. They bolted just as the crate exploded, sending screws and shards of wood flying in a rain of potentially deadly shrapnel. Several chips bounced off Ichigo's back, his jacket absorbing most of the impact as he shielded Candice and hurried her towards another flimsy barricade as the small squirrel chattered, high and triumphant. Ichigo silently promised himself that he would punch that rodent in the face at the earliest opportunity.

What happened next was like a game of cat-and-mouse, except they were the mice and the cats were actually giant demonic squirrels.

By means of pointing and yelling loudly, he was able to warn Candice of when a squirrel attempted a sneak attack, enabling the green-haired woman to soundly electrocute the oversized mammals before retreating. It was an admittedly undignified hit-and-run tactic, but as far as he was concerned anything goes when it comes to avoiding being mauled by killer squirrels. He did, in fact, get to punch that one squirrel in the face when it ducked to the side to evade one of Candice's bolts. It felt _really_ satisfying, and he magnanimously ignored his companion's amused giggling as he jumped straight up to avoid a charge from the Boss Squirrel. Passing straight beneath his feet, the big squirrel ran right into the smaller one shaking off the effect of his punch, knocking both head over tail and no, he wasn't smirking, what are you talking about.

"Shut up," Ichigo muttered to Candice, blushing faintly as she clapped both hands over her mouth to try and contain her laughter.

As it turned out, the Boss Squirrel could cause localized earthquakes by stamping its' feet, which was a rather unpleasant the place looked one sneeze away from collapsing, that really didn't bode well for them in a prolonged battle. The tremors had them jumping up and down like they were in a bouncy castle in order to avoid the shockwave and no doubt looking ridiculous, especially when the laser squirrel decided to take pot-shots at them while they were in the air.

Ichigo could admit that he hadn't thought that the demonic squirrels would think of teaming up, and much to his dissatisfaction he learned that yes, they were quite capable of teamwork.

Something else he learned? Laser burns _hurt_.

His shirt resembled swiss cheese, sporting several still-smoldering holes as he landed and ducked behind another crate, cursing lowly as he crouched and braced himself against the next tremor. It was slower than the last he'd jumped to avoid, and he wondered at that for all of three seconds before he threw himself into a roll to avoid the follow-up lunge. It left long gouges in the floor when the Boss Squirrel hooked its claws in and used the momentum to throw itself into a tight turn to snap dagger-sharp teeth at his legs.

There was a loud ripping sound as one pants leg was suddenly half the length it was supposed to be. Loose fibers of denim brushed against a bare calf as Ichigo scrambled backwards and left the monstrous rodent to savage its prize as he put distance between them.

Candice was tossing lightning bolts at the laser squirrel, her bracelet glowing in the light of the electricity wreathing her hands as she kept it busy to give Ichigo time to recover. He ducked behind some crates to catch his breath, calling a quick, "You okay?!" over to where the green-haired woman was perched midway up the steps that led to the second floor catwalk. He got a distracted thumbs-up in response and decided to take the gesture, along with the ecstatic grin on her face, as a yeah, she was fine.

A sharp crackle of lightning and pained squeal from the squirrel she was fighting pretty much confirmed that.

By then the Boss Squirrel realized that its prey wasn't inside the fabric it had been busily shredding, and it roared in thwarted anger as it dropped the strips of denim. Ichigo had the inane urge to roar back, but immediately suppressed it because that _would not be helpful, damnit_! Anyway, Candice had the battle cries covered; shrieks of ferocious joy blended with the harsh crackles of lightning and screams of fury from her opponent, creating a cacophony would probably be very distracting if he wasn't so focused on running over and behind crates to slow the maddened charge of the Boss Squirrel.

Splinters and nails flew as the crates practically exploded, the flimsy wood a poor match for the car-sized bundle of furred, fanged doom. One good thing was that the Boss Squirrel had apparently given up on using its tremor-causing ability, likely because it would have had to stand still in order to use it and its tag-team partner was currently being electrocuted. Eight demolished crates later, and Ichigo decided that he was done being on the defensive and just evading the huge mammal's attacks.

He wasn't the running away type, as Soul Society could attest, and it was time to do what he did best: fight. And win.

* * *

When the Boss Squirrel burst through yet another crate, the look on its face when it was greeted not by the back of fleeing prey but a solid punch to the snout was _priceless_. Ichigo filed the memory in his mind to be remembered whenever he needed cheering up, and then got to work, putting all his martial arts training and fighting experience to good use. Fighting a giant rodent was different from fighting people, but the important bits were still the same, namely breaking a leg still hurt and most importantly slowed the injured one down.

Ichigo jumped back after slamming his heel into the knee-joint of the squirrel's left hindleg, a loud crack sounding briefly before being drowned out by the demonic creature's shriek. The pain briefly paralyzed the monster squirrel, and he took full advantage of the pause to rush in and deliver one, two, three blows to the rodent's ribcage. On the third strike feeling some give, he followed his instincts and jumped up as the Boss Squirrel swung its head around to try and catch the thing hurting it.

Landing feet-first in the middle of the thing's back was rather satisfying, as was pulling back a fist and clobbering the beast in the back of the head. It dropped like a sack of potatoes, landing with a loud thump on the floor and actually causing the building to shake from the impact. He wobbled a bit before jumping down from on top of the demon critter, carefully checking to make sure it wasn't faking the loose-limbed sprawl. Nope, it looked well and truly unconscious...at least until it reared up to try and bite his head off, and then a jolt of green lightning came out of nowhere and zapped it straight back to dreamland.

He stared.

"...The fuck was that?" He asked the air, and received a reply as his companion sauntered (there was really no other way to describe that walk) up to his side.

"You're welcome," she preened, beaming in victory as she blew streams of smoke off her fingertips. He could see the laser squirrel she'd been fighting laying in a smoking heap behind her, obviously a little worse for wear and twitching spastically.

"This bracelet is awesome, by the way," she added, looking down at her accessory with an adoring expression, the gems still faintly glowing from the power they'd been channeling.

"Glad it came in handy," Ichigo said drying, opening his menu and picking up the Boss Squirrel and laser squirrel to stuff in his inventory. "I'll see if I have anything else that might suit you," he finished after closing the menu, Candice promptly squealing and jumping up to hug him. "Oomph," he grunted, air leaving him in a rush, his arms automatically rising to both return the embrace and hold the woman steady. A faint red hue colored his cheeks as he was abruptly made aware that a very _prominent_ part of Candice's anatomy was pressed against him in this position, and he stared fixedly over her shoulder as she slid down his body to set her feet back on the floor.

' _He_ _would not look, he would not look, he would not look..._ '

Repeating the mantra in his mind, he focused his gaze on Candice's face as he asked, "Mind if we head back to my place? I need to change." Truer words than that statement had seldom been spoken, as even a second's glance was enough to see that although Ichigo had escaped with only minor scratches (and one slightly medium scratch from when Boss Squirrel tore his pants), his clothes had not been so lucky. His shirt was barely preserving his modesty, and his pants were barely doing any better, although his shoes were fine, if a bit ragged.

"No problem!" Candice nodded, bobbing her head as she grabbed hold of his arm and practically dragged him out of the warehouse. "After you change, what do you say to getting something to eat? All that excitement worked up an appetite!"

Ichigo's stomach growled in agreement, and he smiled slightly as he said, "Sure thing, I promised you food after the fights, and I try not to make myself a liar...know any good places that might be open?" The last question being voiced because of a quick look at the sky revealing that it was almost fully dark.

"Of course! And it's close by your apartment too," She responded before starting to ramble about an awesome restaurant she'd found that he just had to try. He placidly followed along since she was towing him in the direction of his place, not protesting the grip she had on his arm as he listened to her talk about the restaurant. It did sound good, and now that the squirrels were taken care of and safely stored away there was nothing to stop him from sitting down to enjoy a nice meal with someone he actually enjoyed hanging around with. He could really picture Candice and him becoming great friends, especially since she was doing a good job taking the weirdness in stride.

("Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!")

...Yeah, he'd kind of been expecting that. He idly wondered how far up bonds could go and if he even wanted to chance finding out. Probably not, but since he couldn't turn the damn thing off, looks like he had go along for the ride.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Happy Thanksgiving once again! I rushed to finish this chapter today, which is slightly longer than usual in celebration, and I hope you all enjoyed it. There might be some mistakes since this is hot off the presses - still with that new chapter smell and everything! - but hopefully they're minor in the grand scheme of things. I'll need to refresh my knowledge of DxD since after this the story jumps back to canon happenings and we figure out what Kalawarner's been up to, so feel free to look forward to that. :) As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


End file.
